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CARPENTRAS

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 386 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CARPENTRAS , a See also:

town of See also:south-eastern See also:France; See also:capital of an See also:arrondissement in the See also:department of See also:Vaucluse 16 m. N.E. of See also:Avignon by See also:rail. Pop. (1906) town, 7775; See also:commune, 10,721. The town stands on the See also:left See also:bank of the Auzon on an See also:eminence, the See also:summit of which is occupied by the See also:church of St Siffrein, formerly a See also:cathedral, and the adjoining See also:law-See also:court: 'St Siff See also:rein, in its existing See also:state, See also:dates from the 15th and 16th centuries and is See also:Gothic in See also:style, but it preserves remains of a previous church of Romanesque See also:architecture. The See also:rich See also:sculpture of the See also:southern portal and the See also:relics and See also:works of See also:art in the interior are of some See also:interest. The law-court, built in 164o as the See also:bishop's See also:palace, contains in its courtyard a small but well-preserved triumphal See also:arch of the Gallo-See also:Roman See also:period. Other important buildings are the See also:hospital, an imposing structure of the 18th See also:century, opposite which is a statue of its founder, Malachie d'Inguimbert, bishop of Carpentras; and the former palace of the papal See also:legate, which dates from 1640. Of the old fortifications the only survival is the See also:Porte d'See also:Orange, a gateway surmounted by a See also:fine machicolated See also:tower. Their site is now occupied by wide boulevards shaded by See also:plane-trees. See also:Water is brought to the town by an See also:aqueduct of See also:forty-eight See also:arches, completed in 1734. Carpentras is the seat of a sub-See also:prefect and of a court of assizes, and has a tribunal of first instance, communal See also:college for girls and boys, a large library and a museum.

See also:

Felt hats, See also:confectionery, preserved fruits and nails are its See also:industrial products, and there are See also:silk-works, tanneries and dye-works. There is See also:trade in silk, See also:wool, See also:fruit, oil, &c. The See also:irrigation-See also:canal named after the town flows to the See also:east of it (see VAUCLUSE). Carpentras is identified with Carpentoracte, a town of Gallia Narbonensis mentioned by See also:Pliny, which appears to have been of some importance during the Roman period. Its See also:medieval See also:history is full of vicissitudes; it was captured and plundered by Vandal, Lombard and Saracen. In later times, as capital of the Comtat Venaissin, it was frequently the See also:residence of the popes of Avignon, to whom that See also:province belonged from 1228 till the Revolution. Carpentras was the seat of a bishopric from the 5th century till 1805.

End of Article: CARPENTRAS

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