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PIROT (Turkish Shehr-Kcey)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 643 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PIROT (See also:Turkish Shehr-Kcey) , a Servian See also:town, 122m. from the Bulgarian frontier at Tsaribrod, on the railway See also:line between See also:Nish and See also:Sofia. Pop. (1900), 10,428. Pirot is the seat of the prefecture for the See also:department of the same name, with a tribunal, several See also:schools and a See also:custom-See also:house. It is the only 'roper See also:industrial town in See also:Servia, having numerous small factories for the manufacture of thin See also:cloth (shayak), woollen See also:braid (gaytan), and especially carpets. Its carpets have a See also:great reputation in the See also:Balkan See also:Peninsula for their See also:quaint designs, durability and freshness of See also:colour. Pirot has a See also:medieval fortress, believed to have been built on the site of the See also:Roman fortress Quimedava, on the military road leading from Old Naissus to See also:Philippopolis. The town is of great strategical importance, for which See also:reason the See also:Russian plenipotentiaries at the See also:Berlin See also:congress (1878) stubbornly tried to include it within the Bulgarian frontier, while See also:Austria and some other See also:Powers insisted that it should be given to Servia. In the See also:war between Servia and See also:Bulgaria in 1885 the Bulgarians occupied and held it until the, conclusion of 9eace. and 49 M. See also:west of See also:Florence by See also:rail. Pop. (1881), 42,779; (1906j, 61,279.

It still retains its See also:

ancient walls, 64 m. in See also:circuit, and is defended by a citadel on the See also:south-west. The See also:principal streets run alongside the See also:river, and are lined with See also:fine buildings. Besides the See also:cathedral, the See also:baptistery and the famous leaning See also:tower, the See also:city possesses several notable churches, as the See also:Renaissance See also:church of the Tuscan See also:order of St See also:Stephen, built in 1562 from plans by See also:Vasari; See also:San Niccolo, with a four-storeyed tower (1230), built by Niccola See also:Pisano, and the See also:tomb of See also:John of See also:Swabia, the See also:parricide; See also:Santa Caterina (1262); Santa Maria della See also:Spina, in the Italo-See also:Gothic See also:style, built in 1230 and restored in 1872; San Sepolchro, erected in 1150 by Diotisalvi; San See also:Francesco, with frescoes byTaddeo See also:Gaddi; and the See also:basilica of San Michele (rot8). Amongst the See also:secular buildings may be mentioned the royal See also:palace; the archiepiscopal palace; the palace of the order of St Stephen, built by Niccola Pisano and reconstructed by Vasari; the Upezzinghi (formerly Lanfreducci) palace, built of See also:Carrara See also:marble in 1590; the Lanfranchi, See also:Agostini and other palaces; the university (1472); a large See also:hospital (1258); and fine See also:market halls. There are statues to Cosimo I. (by Francavilla), See also:Arch-See also:duke See also:Leopold, and See also:Ferdinand I. The city possesses also an See also:academy of the fine arts, with a See also:gallery of paintings; and the university a library of 120,000 volumes, a natural See also:history museum, botanical See also:garden and agricultural schools. The university, founded in 1338, has faculties of See also:law, See also:medicine, See also:mathematics and See also:philosophy and literature, and is to this See also:day one of the most famous in See also:Italy. The architects of the cathedral were Boschetto and Rinaldo, both Italians, probably Pisans. It is in See also:plan a Latin See also:cross, with an See also:internal length of 3111 ft. and a breadth of 252 ft. The See also:nave, 109 ft. high, has See also:double vaulted aisles and the transepts single aisles; and at the intersection of nave and transepts there is a See also:cupola. The basilica is still the predominent type, but the See also:influence of the domed churches of See also:Constantinople and the mosques of See also:Palermo is also apparent.

The pillars which support the nave are of marble from See also:

Elba and See also:Giglio; those of the See also:side aisles are the spoils of ancient See also:Greek and Roman buildings brought by the See also:Pisan galleys. Extern-ally the finest See also:part of the See also:building is the west front, in which the See also:note struck by the range of See also:arches See also:running See also:round the See also:base is repeated by four open arcades. Of the four doors three are by John of See also:Bologna, who wag greatly helped by Francavilla, Tacca and others; that of the south side, of much older date, is generally supposed to be the See also:work of Bonanno. Of the interior decorations it is enough to mention the altars of the nave, said to be after designs by See also:Michelangelo, and the mosaics in the See also:dome and the See also:apse. which were among the latest designs of See also:Cimabue. The baptistery was completed only in 1278, and marred in the 14th See also:century by the introduction of Gothic details. The building is a circle too ft. in See also:diameter, and is covered with a See also:cone-surmounted dome 190 ft. high on which stands a statue of St Raniero. The lowest range of semicircular arches consists of twenty columns and the second of sixty; and above this is a See also:row of eighteen windows in the same style separated by as many pilasters. In the interior, which is supported by four pilasters and eight columns, the most striking features are the octagonal See also:font and the hexagonal See also:pulpit, erected in 126o by Niccola Pisano. The campanile or " leaning tower of See also:Pisa " is a round tower, the noblest, according to See also:Freeman, of the See also:southern Romanesque. Though the walls at the base are 13 ft. thick, and at the See also:top about See also:half as much, they are constructed throughout of marble. The See also:basement is surrounded by a range of semicircular arches sup-ported by fifteen columns, and above this rise six arcades with See also:thirty columns each. The eighth See also:storey, which contains the bells, is of much smaller diameter than the See also:rest of the tower, and has only twelve columns.

The height of the tower is 179 ft., but the ascent is easy by a See also:

stair in the See also:wall, and the visitor hardly perceives the inclination till he reaches the top and from the See also:lower edge of the gallery looks " down " along the See also:shaft receding to its base. The tower leans or deviates from the perpendicular, to a striking extent, which has gradually increased: it was 151 ft. out of the perpendicular when measured in 1829, and 161 ft. in 1910. There is no reason to suppose that the architects, Bonanno and See also:William of See also:Innsbruck, intended that the campanile should be built in an oblique position; it would appear to have assumed it while the work was still in progress. The See also:foundations are not more than to ft. deep, and their circumference only that of the tower. The Campo Santo, lying to the See also:north of the cathedral, owes its origin to See also:Archbishop Ubaldo ' In See also:Strabo's See also:time it was only 2 m. away, but the increase of the See also:delta at the mouth of the river has since then pushed forward the See also:coast-line.(1188-1200), who made the spot peculiarly sacred by bringing fifty-three shiploads of See also:earth from See also:Mount See also:Calvary. The building, erected in the See also:Italian Gothic style between 1278 and 1283, by Giovanni Pisano, is of See also:special See also:interest chiefly for its famous frescoes. There are numerous See also:industries, the most important being the manufacture of cottons. In the vicinity are the royal See also:stud-See also:farm (horses and dromedaries) of Cascine di San Rossore, and the See also:mineral See also:baths of San Giuliano, alkaline-ferruginous, with temperature 91.40 to ro5.8° Fahr. At the mouth of the See also:Arno, joined to the city by a See also:steam See also:tramway, is the seaside resort of Marina di Pisa, also known as Bocca d'Arno, a well-known centre for landscape painters. The old town occupied the site of the ancient Pisae on the right See also:bank of the Arno. The See also:foundation of Pisae is by tradition ascribed to a very remote See also:period, and it was often (possibly only owing to the similarity of name) believed to have been founded from Pisae in See also:Elis. It is first mentioned in history as the See also:place at which a Roman See also:army from See also:Sardinia landed in 225 B.C., its See also:harbour being at the mouth of the south See also:branch of the Arno, north of Livorno.

Being situated on the coast road (Via Aemilia) it was important as a frontier fortress against See also:

Liguria, to which, and not to See also:Etruria, it really belonged, perhaps, up to the time of See also:Sulla, the actual boundary lying between it and Vada Volaterrana (mod. Vada). It became a See also:colony in 18o B.C., and was important for the fertility of its territory, for its quarries, and for the See also:timber it yielded for See also:ship-building. See also:Augustus gave it the name of Colonia Julia Pisana; his grandsons See also:Gaius and See also:Lucius were patrons of the colony, and after their See also:death monuments were erected in their See also:honour, as is recorded in two See also:long See also:inscriptions still extant. Greek vases have been found within the city itself, seeming to point to the presence of See also:Etruscan tombs (G. Ghirardini in Notizie degli Scavi, 1892, 147); but no remains now exist except of the Roman period—some scanty ruins of baths and of a See also:temple, while the Piazza dei Cavalieri follows the outline of the ancient See also:theatre. See E. Bormann, Corp. inscr. See also:lat. xi. 272 (1888). Little is known of the history of Pisa during the See also:barbarian invasions, but it is an ascertained fact that it was one of the first towns to regain its See also:independence. Under the See also:Byzantine dominion Pisa, like many other of the maritime cities of Italy, profited by the weakness of the See also:government at Constantinople to reassert its strength. And even during the first years of the harsh Lombard See also:rule the need recognized by these oppressors of defending the Italian coast from the attacks of the Byzantines was favourable to the development of the Pisan See also:navy.

Few particulars are extant concerning the real See also:

condition of the town; but we occasionally find Pisa mentioned, almost as though it were an See also:independent city, at moments when Italy was overwhelmed by the greatest calamities. According to See also:Amari's happy expression, " it was already independent by See also:sea, while still enslaved on See also:land." Its prosperity notably declined after the See also:establishment of the Lombard rule and under the See also:Franks. It again began to flourish under the marquises of See also:Tuscany, who governed it in the name of the See also:emperor. In roo3 we find records of a war between Pisa and See also:Lucca, which, according to See also:Muratori, was the first waged between Italian cities in the See also:middle ages. But the military development and real importance of Pisa in the 11th century must be attributed to the continuous and desperate struggle it maintained against the See also:tide of Saracenic invasion from See also:Sicily. And, although the numerous legends and fables of the old chroniclers disguise the true history of this struggle, they serve to attest the importance of Pisa in those days. In 1004 the See also:Saracens forced the See also:gates and sacked a See also:quarter of the town; and in x011 they renewed the attack. But the Pisans repulsed them and assumed the offensive in See also:Calabria, Sicily, and even in See also:Africa. Still more memorable was the expedition afterwards undertaken by the See also:united forces of Pisa and See also:Genoa against Mogahid, better known in the Italian See also:chronicles as Mugeto. This Moslem See also:chief had made himself See also:master of Sardinia, and was driven thence by the allied fleets in 1015.

End of Article: PIROT (Turkish Shehr-Kcey)

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