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MERAN

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 148 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MERAN , the See also:

chief See also:town of the administrative See also:district of the same name in the See also:Austrian See also:province of the See also:Tirol, 20 M. by See also:rail N.W. of See also:Botzen.on the See also:Brenner See also:line, while the Vintschgau railway connects it with Mals, 37 M. N.W. It is the chief town in the upper See also:Adige valley, a region which bears the See also:special name of the Vintschgau, and is on the high road either to See also:Landeck and the See also:Lower See also:Engadine by the Reschen Scheideck Pass (4902 ft.), or more directly to the Lower Engadine by the See also:Munster valley and the Ofen Pass (7071 ft.). In 1900 Meran had 9284 inhabitants (or, with the neighbouring villages of Untermais and Obermais, 13,201), mainly See also:German-speaking and Romanist. The town is picturesquely situated, at a height of See also:Tool ft., at the See also:foot of the See also:vine-clad Kiichelberg, and on the right See also:bank of the Passer See also:River, just above its junction with the Adige or Etsch. Meran proper consists mainly of one See also:long narrow See also:street, the Laubengasse, flanked by covered arcades, but the name is often used to include several adjacent villages, Untermais and Obermais being on the See also:left bank of the Passer, while Gratsch is on its right bank and See also:north-See also:west of the See also:main town. The most noteworthy buildings are the See also:parish See also:church (14th to 15th centuries) and the old See also:residence (15th See also:century) of the See also:counts of the Tirol. Meran is best known as a much-frequented resort for consumptive patients, for whom it is well suited by See also:reason of the purity of the See also:air and the See also:comparative See also:immunity of the See also:place from See also:wind and See also:rain in the See also:winter. It is also visited in See also:spring for the whey cure and in autumn for the See also:grape cure. To the north-west, on the Ktichelberg, is the See also:half-ruined See also:castle of Tirol (2096 ft.), the See also:original seat of the See also:family which gave its name to the See also:county. Meran may have been built on the site of a See also:Roman See also:settlement, but is first mentioned in 857. From the 12th century to about 1420 it was the See also:capital of the ever-extending See also:land named after it Tirol, but then had to give way to See also:Innsbruck, while the See also:building of the Brenner railway (1864–1867) and the rise of Botzen have decreased its commercial importance.

(W. A. B.

End of Article: MERAN

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