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LUCCA (anc. Luca)

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 95 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LUCCA (anc. Luca) , a See also:town and archiepiscopal see of See also:Tuscany, See also:Italy, See also:capital of the See also:province of Lucca, 13 M. by See also:rail N.E. of See also:Pisa. Pop. (Igor) 43,566 (town); 73,465 (See also:commune). It is situated 62 ft. above the level of the See also:sea, in the valley of the Serchio, and looks out for the most See also:part on a See also:horizon of hills and mountains._ The fortifications, pierced by four See also:gates, were begun in 1504 and completed in 1645, and See also:long ranked amongthe most remarkable in the See also:peninsula. They are still well-preserved and picturesque, with projecting bastions planted with trees. The See also:city has a well-built and substantial See also:appearance, its See also:chief attraction lying in the numerous churches, which belong in the See also:main to a well-marked basilican type, and See also:present almost too richly decorated exteriors, See also:fine apsidal ends and quadrangular campaniles, in some cases with battlemented summits, and windows increasing in number as they ascend. In See also:style they are an See also:imitation of the See also:Pisan. It is remarkable that in the arcades a See also:pillar generally occupies the See also:middle of the See also:facade. The See also:cathedral of St See also:Martin was begun in 1063 by See also:Bishop See also:Anselm (later See also:Pope See also:Alexander II.); but the See also:great See also:apse with its tall columnar arcades and the fine campanile are probably the only remnants of the See also:early edifice, the See also:nave and transepts having been rebuilt in the See also:Gothic style in the 14th See also:century, while the See also:west front was begun in 1204 by Guidetto (lately identified with Guido Bigarelli of See also:Como), and " consists of a vast See also:portico of three magnificent See also:arches, and above them three ranges of open galleries covered with all the devices of an exuberant See also:fancy." The ground See also:plan is a Latin See also:cross, the nave being 273 ft. in length and 84 ft. in width, and the transepts 144 ft. in length. In the nave is a little octagonal See also:temple or See also:chapel, which serves as a See also:shrine for the most See also:precious of the See also:relics of Lucca, a See also:cedar-See also:wood crucifix, carved, according to the See also:legend, by Nicodemus, and miraculously conveyed to Lucca in 782. The Sacred Countenance (See also:Volta Santo), as it is generally called, because the See also:face of the Saviour is considered a true likeness, is only shown thrice a See also:year.

The chapel was built in 1484 by Matteo Civitali, a See also:

local sculptor of the early See also:Renaissance (1436–1501); he was the only See also:master of Tuscany outside See also:Florence who worked thoroughly in the Florentine style, and his creations are among the most charming See also:works of the Renaissance. The cathedral contains several other works by him—the See also:tomb of P. da Noceto, the See also:altar of S. See also:Regulus and the tomb of Ilaria del Carretto by Jacopo della Quercia of See also:Siena (described by See also:Ruskin in See also:Modern Painters, ii.), the earliest of his extant works (1406), and one of the earliest decorative works of the Renaissance. In one of the chapels is a fine Madonna by Fra Bartolommeo; in the municipal picture See also:gallery are a fine " See also:God the See also:Father " and another Madonna by him; also some sculptures by Civitali, and some See also:good wood See also:carving, including See also:choir stalls. In the cathedral choir is good stained See also:glass of 1485. The See also:church of St See also:Michael, founded in the 8th century, and built of See also:marble within and without, has a lofty and magnificent western facade (1188)—an architectural See also:screen rising much above the roof of the church. The interior is good but rather See also:bare. The church of St Martino at Arliano near Lucca belongs to the first See also:half of the 8th century; it is of basilican plan (see G. T. Rivoira, Origini dell' Architettura Lombarda, iii. [See also:Rome, 1901] 138). St Frediano or Frigidian See also:dates originally from the 7th century, but was built in the Romanesque style in 1112-1147, though the interior, originally with four aisles and nave, shows traces of the earliest structure; the front occupies the site of the See also:ancient apse; in one of its chapels is the tomb of See also:Santa Zita, patroness of servants and of Lucca itself.

In S. See also:

Francesco, a fine Gothic church, is the tomb of Castruccio Castracane. See also:San Giovanni (originally of the 12th century), S. Cristoforo, San Romano (rebuilt in the 17th century, by Vincenzo Buonamici), and Santa Maria Forisportam (of the 12th century) also deserve mention. Among the See also:secular buildings are the old ducal See also:palace, begun in 1578 by See also:Ammanati, and now the See also:residence of the See also:prefect and seat of the provincial See also:officers and the public picture gallery; the early Renaissance Palazzo Pretorio, or former residence of the See also:podesta, now the seat of the See also:civil and correctional courts; the palace, erected in the 15th century by a member of the Guinigi See also:family, of See also:brick, in the See also:Italian Gothic style, and now serving as a poor-See also:house; the 16th-century palace of the See also:marquis See also:Guidiccioni, now used as a depository for the archives, the earliest documents going back to A.D. 790. The Palazzo Mansi contains a collection of Dutch pictures. There are several other fine See also:late 16th-century palaces. The See also:principal See also:market-See also:place in the city (Piazza del Mercato) has taken See also:possession of the See also:arena of the ancient See also:amphitheatre, the See also:outer arches of which can still be seen in the surrounding buildings. The whole See also:building, belonging probably to the early See also:Empire, measured 135 by 105 yds., and the arena 871 by 58 yds. The outline of the ancient See also:theatre can be traced in the Piazza delle Grazie, and some of its substructure walls are preserved. The ancient See also:forum was on the site of the Piazza S.

Michele in the centre of the town; remains of a small public building or shrine were found not far off in 1906 (L. Pernier in Notizie degli Scavi, 1906, p. 117). The rectangular disposition of the streets in the centre of the town is a survival of See also:

Roman times. Besides the See also:academy of sciences, which dates from 1584, there are several institutions of the same See also:kind—a royal philomathic academy, a royal academy of arts and a public library of 5o,000 volumes. The archiepiscopal library and archives are also important, while the See also:treasury contains some fine See also:goldsmith's See also:work, including the 14th-century Croce dei See also:Pisani, made by the Pisans for the cathedral. The See also:river Serchio affords See also:water-See also:power for numerous factories. The most important See also:industries are the manufacture of jute goods (carried on at See also:Ponte a Moriano in the Serchio valley, 6 m. N. of Lucca), See also:tobacco, silks and cottons. The See also:silk manufacture, introduced at Lucca about the See also:close of the 11th century, and in the early part of the 16th the means of subsistence for 30,000 of its inhabitants, now gives employment (in reeling and throwing) to only about 1500. The bulk of the See also:population is engaged in See also:agriculture. The water See also:supply is maintained by an See also:aqueduct built in 1823–1832 with 459 arches, from the Pisan mountains.

The ancient Luca, commanding the valley of the Serchio, is first mentioned as the place to which Sempronius retired in 218 s.c. before See also:

Hannibal; but there is some doubt as to the correctness of See also:Livy's statement, for, though there were continual See also:wars with the Ligurians, after this See also:time, it is not mentioned again until we are told that in 177 B.C. a Latin See also:colony was founded there in territory offered by the Pisans for the purpose.' It must have become a See also:municipium by the lex Julia of 90 s.e., and it was here that See also:Julius See also:Caesar in 56 B.C. held his famous See also:conference with See also:Pompey and See also:Crassus, Luca then being still in See also:Liguria, not in See also:Etruria. A little later a colony was conducted hither by the triumvirs or by Octavian; whether after See also:Philippi or after See also:Actium is uncertain. In the Augustan See also:division of Italy Luca was as-signed to the 7th region (Etruria); it is little mentioned in the imperial See also:period except as a See also:meeting-point of roads—to Florentia (see See also:CLODIA, VIA), See also:Luna and Pisae. The road to See also:Parma given in the itineraries, according to some authorities, led by Luna and the Cisa pass (the route taken by the modern railway from See also:Sarzana to Parma), according to others up the Serchio valley and over the Sassalbo pass (O. Cuntz in Jahreshefte See also:des oesterr. See also:arch. Instituts, 1904, 53). Though plundered and deprived of part of its territory by See also:Odoacer, Luca appears as an important city and fortress at the time of See also:Narses, who besieged it for three months in A.D. 553, and under the See also:Lombards it was the residence of a See also:duke or marquis and had the See also:privilege of a See also:mint. The See also:dukes gradually extended their power over all Tuscany, but after the See also:death of the famous See also:Matilda the city began to constitute itself an See also:independent community, and in 116o it obtained from Well VI., duke of See also:Bavaria and marquis of Tuscany, the lordship of all the See also:country for 5 M. See also:round, on See also:payment of an See also:annual See also:tribute. See also:Internal discord afforded an opportunity to Uguccione della Faggiuola, with whom See also:Dante spent some time there, to make himself master of Lucca in 1314, but the Lucchesi expelled him two years afterwards, and handed over their city to Castruccio Castracane, under whose masterly tyranny it became " for a moment the leading See also:state of Italy," until his death in 1328 (his tomb is in S. Francesco). Occupied by the troops of See also:Louis of Bavaria, sold to a See also:rich Genoese Gherardino See also:Spinola, seized by See also:John, See also:king of Bohemia, pawned to the See also:Rossi of Parma, by them ceded to Martino della Scala of See also:Verona, sold to the Florentines, surrendered to the Pisans, nominally liberated by the See also:emperor See also:Charles IV. and governed by his See also:vicar, Lucca managed, at first as a demo- ' Some confusion has arisen owing to the similarity of the names Luca and Luna; the theory of E.

Bormann in Corp. Inscrip. Latin. (See also:

Berlin, 1888), xi. 295 is here followed.cracy, and after 1628 as an See also:oligarchy, to maintain " its independ ence alongside of See also:Venice and See also:Genoa, and painted the word Libertas on its banner till the See also:French Revolution." In the beginning of the 16th century one of its leading citizens, Francesco Burlamacchi, made a See also:noble See also:attempt to give See also:political cohesion to Italy, but perished on the See also:scaffold (1548); his statue by Ulisse Cambi was erected on the Piazza San Michele in 1863." As a principality formed in 1805 by See also:Napoleon in favour of his See also:sister Elisa and her See also:husband Bacchiocchi, Lucca was for a few years wonderfully prosperous. It was occupied by the Neapolitans in 1814; from 1816 to 1847 it was governed as a duchy by Maria Luisa, See also:queen of Etruria, and her son Charles Louis; and it after-wards formed one of the divisions of Tuscany. The bishops of Lucca, who can be traced back to 347, received exceptional marks of distinction, such as the See also:pallium in 1120, and the archiepiscopal cross from Alexander II. In 1726 See also:Benedict XIII. raised their see to the See also:rank of an archbishopric, without suffragans. See A. Mazzarosa, Sloria di Lucca (Lucca, 1833) ;. E. See also:Ridolfi, L'Arte in Lucca studiata nella sua Cattedrale (1882) ; See also:Guidi di Lucca; La See also:Basilica di S.

Michele in See also:

Faro in Lucca. , (T.

End of Article: LUCCA (anc. Luca)

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