Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition | Page 2

of the government small arms factories being situated
here), also of woollens, linens and silks, matches, candles, &c. The
stone quarries of Mazzano, 8 m. east of Brescia, supplied material for
the monument to Victor Emmanuel II. and other buildings in Rome.
Brescia is situated on the main railway line between Milan and Verona,
and has branch railways to Iseo, Parma, Cremona and (via Rovato) to

Bergamo, and steam tramways to Mantua, Soncino, Ponte Toscolano
and Cardone Valtrompia.
The ancient Celtic Brixia, a town of the Cenomani, became Roman in
225 B.C., when the Cenomani submitted to Rome. Augustus founded a
civil (not a military) colony here in 27 B.C., and he and Tiberius
constructed an aqueduct to supply it. In 452 it was plundered by Attila,
but was the seat of a duchy in the Lombard period. From 1167 it was
one of the most active members of the Lombard League. In 1258 it fell
into the hands of Eccelino of Verona, and belonged to the Scaligers
(della Scala) until 1421, when it came under the Visconti of Milan, and
in 1426 under Venice. Early in the 16th century it was one of the
wealthiest cities of Lombardy, but has never recovered from its sack by
the French under Gaston de Foix in 1512. It belonged to Venice until
1797, when it came under Austrian dominion; it revolted in 1848, and
again in 1849, being the only Lombard town to rally to Charles Albert
in the latter year, but was taken after ten days' obstinate street fighting
by the Austrians under Haynau.
See Museo Bresciano Illustrato (Brescia, 1838).
(T. AS.)
BRESLAU (Polish Wraclaw), a city of Germany, capital of the
Prussian province of Silesia, and an episcopal see, situated in a wide
and fertile plain on both banks of the navigable Oder, 350 m. from its
mouth, at the influx of the Ohle, and 202 m. from Berlin on the railway
to Vienna. Pop. (1867) 171,926; (1880) 272,912; (1885) 299,640;
(1890) 335,186; (1905) 470,751, about 60% being Protestants, 35%
Roman Catholics and nearly 5% Jews. The Oder, which here breaks
into several arms, divides the city into two unequal halves, crossed by
numerous bridges. The larger portion, on the left bank, includes the old
or inner town, surrounded by beautiful promenades, on the site of the
ramparts, dismantled after 1813, from an eminence within which, the
Liebichs Höhe, a fine view is obtained of the surrounding country.
Outside, as well as across the Oder, lies the new town with extensive
suburbs, containing, especially in the Schweidnitz quarter in the south,
and the Oder quarter in the north, many handsome streets and spacious

squares. The inner town, in contrast to the suburbs, still retains with its
narrow streets much of its ancient characters, and contains several
medieval buildings, both religious and secular, of great beauty and
interest. The cathedral, dedicated to St John the Baptist, was begun in
1148 and completed at the close of the 15th century, enlarged in the
17th and 18th centuries, and restored between 1873 and 1875; it is rich
in notable treasures, especially the high altar of beaten silver, and in
beautiful paintings and sculptures. The Kreuzkirche (church of the
Holy Cross), dating from the 13th and 14th centuries, is an interesting
brick building, remarkable for its stained glass and its historical
monuments, among which is the tomb of Henry IV., duke of Silesia.
The Sandkirche, so called from its dedication to Our Lady on the Sand,
dates from the 14th century, and was until 1810 the church of the
Augustinian canons. The Dorotheenor Minoritenkirche, remarkable for
its high-pitched roof, was founded by the emperor Charles IV. in 1351.
These are the most notable of the Roman Catholic churches. Of the
Evangelical churches the most important is that of St Elizabeth,
founded about 1250, rebuilt in the 14th and 15th centuries, and restored
in 1857. Its lofty tower contains the largest bell in Silesia, and the
church possesses a celebrated organ, fine stained glass, a magnificent
stone pyx (erected in 1455) over 52 ft. high, and portraits of Luther and
Melanchthon by Lucas Cranach. The church of St Mary Magdalen,
built in the 14th century on the model of the cathedral, has two lofty
Gothic towers connected by a bridge, and is interesting as having been
the church in which, in 1523, the reformation in Silesia was first
proclaimed. Other noteworthy ecclesiastical buildings are the graceful
Gothic church of St Michael built in 1871, the bishop's palace and the
Jewish synagogue, the finest in Germany after that in Berlin.
The business streets of the city converge upon the Ring, the market
square, in which is the town-hall, a fine Gothic building, begun in the
middle of the 14th and completed in the 16th century. Within is the