Lier - Lira, elegans et amoenum Brabantiae Opp: adeo, Ut multorum huius tractus nobilium in ocio degentium, a curise turba, iundissimus sit recessus.

Antique copper engraved map - a bird's-eye view plan of Lier by Braun and Hogenberg. An attractive map of the Brabantine town, belonging to the diocese of Antwerp. The town is shown from the south with figures in contemporary dress in the foreground, using the work of Jacob van Deventer as their source for this map. With Latin text to the verso.
From: 'Liber quartus Urbium Praecipuarum totius Mundi', published Cologne, 1588

TRANSLATION OF CARTOUCHE TEXT: Lier, a Brabantine town so elegant and delightful that for many of the nobles in this region who can live a life of ease it is the most pleasant retreat from worries and commotion.
COMMENTARY BY BRAUN: "Lier, an exceedingly handsome town located in the gentle countryside of Brabant, and belonging to the diocese of Antwerp, is well fortified by its natural position and by man-made buildings, and especially in these times of domestic unrest it has been reinforced with new bulwarks, bastions and moats, partly by the Spanish and partly by the others who have occupied it, in such a manner that it is deservedly known as one of the strongest cities in Brabant. [...] In our time it earns great wealth with wool and other crafts."

This is a bird's-eye view from the south of the town, which has two moats. The inner moat encloses the medieval town. Standing out among the smaller buildings is the church of St Gummarus, a masterpiece of late Gothic Flemish architecture, and the town hall on the Grote Markt, with its Gothic belfry dating from 1369.
This town is said to have begun as a hermit's cell that was established here by a Frankish knight, later known as St Gummarus, who is still the patron saint of the town today. In 1212, the town was granted a municipal charter and a wall was built around it shortly afterwards. Lier was expanded in 1287 and 1389. It owed its prosperity in large part to the livestock trade, especially with sheep, but also to the cloth industry.

The "Civitates" was compiled and written by George Braun, Canon of Cologne Cathedral. Braun gathered together vast amounts of information and draft plans to produce over 500 city views/maps published in six parts between 1572 and 1617. Most of these engravings were made by Simon Novellanus and Frans Hogenberg, many after drawings by Joris Hoefnagel.
More about Braun and Hogenberg, Civitatus [+]

Reference: Van der Krogt 4, 2340; Taschen, Braun and Hogenberg, p.283.