Frans Hogenberg sympathized with the Reformation and fled from Antwerp to Germany. Hogenberg founded a cartographic printing and publishing house in Cologne. Together with Georg Braun, canon of Cologne Cathedral and his son Abraham Hogenberg, Frans published the townscape book Civitates Orbis Terrarum in 1572. This book caught on in Germany and became widely known. With the publication, Braun and Hogenberg probably stimulated interest in other later geographical publications. The last edition, now a work of 6 volumes, appeared in 1618.