Ven island - Uraniborg

5km/3mi off the Swedish coast, in the Öresund, is the island of Ven (area 7.5sq.km/3sq.mi; pop. 300), probably a relic of a former land link between Skåne and Zealand in Denmark. The island, a plateau with steeply sloping eroded sides, was already occupied in the Stone Age.

Ven owes its fame to the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), who lived from 1578 to 1598 in Uranienborg, a castle in the center of the island. King Frederick II of Denmark (to which Ven belonged until 1658) granted the estate to Tycho Brahe so that he could carry on his astronomical observations in its dust-free air. From his observatory of Stjärneborg Brahe discovered the first super-nova star, recording his observations in his book "De nova stella" ("Of