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ALBI

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 505 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ALBI , a See also:

city of See also:south-western See also:France, See also:capital of the See also:department of See also:Tarn, 48 m. N. E. of See also:Toulouse, on - See also:branch See also:line of the See also:Southern railway. Pop. (1906) 14,956. Albi occupies a commanding position on the See also:left See also:bank of the Tarn; it is See also:united to its suburb of La Madeleine on the right bank by a See also:medieval and a See also:modern See also:bridge. The old See also:town forms a See also:nucleus of narrow, winding streets surrounded by boulevards, beyond which See also:lie modern quarters with See also:regular thoroughfares and public gardens. The See also:cathedral of Sainte Cecile, a See also:fine fortress-See also:church in the See also:Gothic See also:style, begun in 1277, finished in 1512, rises high above the See also:rest of the town. The exterior, flanked at the western end by a lofty See also:tower and pierced by high, narrow windows; is devoid of See also:ornament. Its See also:general plainness contrasts with the elaborate See also:carving of the See also:stone See also:canopy which shelters the southern portal. In the interior, which is without transepts or aisles, the See also:rood-See also:screen and the -See also:choir-enclosure, which date from about 1500, are masterpieces of delicate See also:sculpture; the 'vaulting and the walls are covered with paintings of the 15th and 16th centuries. The See also:archbishop's See also:palace to the See also:north-See also:east of the cathedral is a fortified See also:building of the 14th See also:century.

St Salvi, the See also:

chief of the other churches of Albi, belongs to the 13th and 15th centuries. A statue of the sailor La Perouse (1741–1788) stands in the square named after him. Albi is the seat of an archbishop, a See also:prefect and a See also:court of assizes. It has tribunals of first instance and of See also:commerce, a See also:board of See also:trade-arbitrators, a chamber of commerce, a lyc&e and training colleges. The See also:industrial establishments of the town include dye-See also:works, distilleries, tanneries, See also:glass-works and important See also:flour-See also:mills. It is also a centre for See also:hat-making, and produces See also:cloth-fabrics, See also:lace, umbrellas, casks, chairs, wooden shoes, candles and pastries. Trade is in See also:wine and See also:anise. Albi (Albiga) was, in the Gallo-See also:Roman See also:period, capital of the Albigenses, and later of the viscounty of Albigeois, which was a See also:fief of the See also:counts of Toulouse. From the 12th century onwards, its bishops, the first of whom appears to have lived about the 3rd century, began to encroach on the authority of the viscounts; the latter, after the Albigensian See also:war, lost their estates, which passed to See also:Simon de See also:Montfort and then to the See also:crown of France. By a See also:convention concluded in 1264 the chief temporal See also:power in the city was granted to the bishops. The archbishopric See also:dates from 1678.

End of Article: ALBI

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ALBERY, JAMES (1838–1889) 		[next]
ALBIAN (Fr. Albien, from Alba = Aube in France)

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