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104
TYCHO BRAHE
this observatory, which he called Stellæburgum (Danish, Stjerneborg), the instruments were placed in subterranean rooms, of which only the roofs rose above the ground, so that they were well protected from the wind. As shown by the view and plan on p. 106, there were five instrument rooms, with a study in the centre, and the entrance to the north. The north-east and north-west rooms were built somewhat later than the others, and were nearly at the
Stjernborg, seen from the West.
level on the ground.[1] The whole was surrounded by a low wooden paling, forming a square with semicircular bends at the middle of each side, and the sides facing north, south,
- ↑ This appears from the stone steps leading up to the crypt E., found in 1823, as we shall see in the Appendix. The above figure also shows that not only the roofs, but most of the walls of crypts D. and E. were above ground. The quadrant in the crypt D. was erected in December 1585, twelve months after Tycho had placed in position the stone on which the lower end of the axis of the instrument in crypt C. was supported. When he had built the three crypts, he perhaps regretted having sunk them in the earth, and therefore built the two new ones higher.
