The larger room was reserved for visiting royalty; James VI of Scotland (later James I of England) visited on March 20, 1590. On this level the towers housed the primary astronomical instruments, accessed from outside the building or from doors on this floor. Balconies, supported on wooden posts, housed additional instruments slightly further from the building, giving them a wider angle of view. On the third floor was a loft, subdivided into eight smaller rooms for students. Only the roofs of the towers reached this level, although a single additional tower extended above the loft in the middle of the building, similar to a widow's walk, accessed via a spiral staircase from the 3rd floor. Uraniborg also featured a large basement; it housed an alchemical laboratory at one end, and storage for food, salt and fuel at the other. The observatory had a large mural quadrant affixed to a north-south wall, used to measure the altitude of stars as they passed the meridian. This, along with many other instruments of the observatory, was depicted and described in detail in Brahe's 1598 book "Astronomiae instauratae mechanica". A large wall, 75 meters on a side and 5.5 meters high, was planned to surround Uraniborg, but was never built; instead, a high earth mound was constructed. That mound has lasted until modern times, being the only remnant of the observatory still in place. Uraniborg was located in the very middle, with an extensive parterre garden between the mound walls and the building. In addition to being decorative, the gardens also supplied herbs for Brahe's medicinal chemistry experiments. The gardens are currently being re-created, using seeds found on-site or identified in Brahe's writings. At the gatehouses, Tycho incorporated his printing workshop and the island's prison. Extending beyond the walls, Uraniborg's surrounding infrastructure included a system of aquaculture ponds, whose overflow powered a paper mill. In 1590 James VI of Scotland gave gold coins to builders and workmen at the paper and corn mills. Uraniborg was an extremely expensive project. It is estimated that it cost about 1% of the entire state budget during construction. Upon losing financial support from Frederick II's successor, Christian IV of Denmark, Brahe abandoned Hven in 1597. The new king was not a fan of Brahe and due to loss of popularity and funding at court, both astrological sites were destroyed shortly after Brahe's death.