Braunschweig beyond the well-known squares and magnificent buildings: Drawings by an unknown artist reveal in detail the appearance and life of the city 260 years ago.

In the mid-18th century, Braunschweig had become a residence city, with Baroque buildings emerging in the city center, while the outdated fortifications still constricted the town. During this time, an artist known to us only by name wandered through the city. On pencil drawings about a span in size, meticulous and often naive, the artist Collier captured groups of houses and streets that had already disappeared decades later, either built over or remodeled in a new style. It is the unknown Braunschweig, away from the famous squares and grand buildings, the half-timbered town whose value was only slowly rediscovered a hundred years later and was almost completely destroyed half a century after that. However, the extensive collection of drawings has been preserved. Gerd Spies has now individually localized these unique city views and assigned them to the urban life of that time. This makes it possible to accompany Collier on his journey through the streets of Braunschweig at the end of the 18th century, to see the houses, facades, and courtyards through his eyes, and to locate the views depicted in 121 illustrations on a contemporary city map.