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PRESSBURG (Hung. Pozsony, Lat. Posonium)

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 299 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PRESSBURG (Hung. Pozsony, See also:Lat. Posonium) , a See also:town of See also:Hungary, See also:capital of the See also:county of the same name, 133 M. N.W. of See also:Budapest by See also:rail. Pop. (1900), 61,537, about See also:half of whom are Germans. Pressburg is picturesquely situated on the See also:left See also:bank of the See also:Danube, at the See also:base of the outlying spurs of the Little Carpathians, in a position of strategical importance near the Porta Hungarica. Pressburg was the capital of Hungary from 1541 until 1784, while the Hungarian See also:parliament held its sittings here till 1848. One of the most conspicuous buildings of the town is the royal See also:palace, situated on the Schloss-See also:berg, a See also:plateau 270 ft. above the Danube, which was destroyed by See also:fire in 1811 and has since been in ruins. Other noteworthy buildings are the See also:cathedral, a See also:Gothic edifice of the 13th See also:century, restored in 1861—188o, in which many of the Hungarian See also:kings were crowned; the town See also:hall, also a 13th-century See also:building, several times restored, and containing an interesting museum; the Franciscan See also:church, dating from 1272; and the See also:law-courts, erected in 1783, where the sittings of parliament were held from 1802 to 1848. The Grassalkowitch palace is now the See also:residence of an See also:archduke, and there is an archiepiscopal palace. Educational establishments include an See also:academy of See also:jurisprudence, a military academy, a See also:Roman See also:Catholic and a See also:Protestant See also:seminary, a training school for See also:female teachers, and several secondary and technical See also:schools.

A large business is carried on in wooden See also:

furniture, See also:tobacco and cigars, See also:paper, See also:ribbons, See also:leather wares, chemicals, See also:liqueurs, See also:confectionery and biscuits. There is, besides, a See also:dynamite factory, which produces over 2,000,000 lb of See also:explosives annually, a large See also:cloth factory and several See also:flour-See also:mills. See also:Trade in See also:grain and See also:wine is active. Besides the extensive See also:traffic on the Danube, the town is also an important railway junction. The first railway See also:line in Hungary was that from Pressburg to Tyrnau through the valley of the Waag. The town has many points of See also:interest in its environs. About twenty-five minutes by steamer down the Danube, the extensive ruins of the See also:castle of Theben (Hung. Deveny), the former See also:gate of Hungary, are situated at the point where the See also:March, which forms the boundary between See also:Austria and Hungary, falls into the Danube. Opposite on the left bank is See also:Hainburg, the gateway of Hungary from the See also:Austrian See also:side. Eastward and southward of Pressburg stretches a See also:long and fertile See also:plain,known as the Upper or Little Hungarian plain. It has an See also:area of 2825 sq. m., of which two-thirds See also:lay on the right bank of the Danube, and the whole is bounded by the See also:rivers Neutra and Raab. In the extreme See also:south-See also:west of this plain is situated the See also:lake of FertO-Tava (Ger.

Neusiedler See), which has an area of about See also:

Loo sq. m., but it is of varying See also:size, and sometimes dries up in See also:part. Eastward it is See also:united with the extensive See also:marsh called the Hansag, through which it is in communication with the See also:river Raab and with the Danube. In the Roman See also:period it was known as Pelso or Pelso. In several places of the dry See also:bed traces of prehistoric lake-dwellings have been discovered. In See also:conjunction with the regulation of the river Raab, and the drainage of the Hansag marsh, plans for the drainage of the lake have been proposed. Little is known of the See also:early See also:history of Pressburg, which was founded about 1000. It was soon strongly fortified, though it was captured by the See also:king of Bohemia, Ottakar II., in 1271. It received many privileges from the Hungarian kings, especially from the See also:emperor See also:Sigismund, and its strategic situation made it an important fortress. Sigismund held Imperial diets in the town. After the See also:battle of See also:Mohacs in 1526 and the See also:capture of Buda by the See also:Turks, Pressburg became the capital of Hungary. Here in 16o8 the Austrian and Hungarian malcontents concluded a treaty with the archduke See also:Matthias, afterwards emperor, against their lawful See also:sovereign, the emperor See also:Rudolf II. In 1619 the town was taken by See also:Bethlen Gabor, but it was recovered by the Imperialists in 1621.

In 1687 it was the See also:

scene of the session of the estates of Hungary during which the Hungarians renounced their right of choosing their own king and accepted the hereditary See also:succession of the Habsburgs. Here also was held the See also:diet of 1741 when the members swore to assist their sovereign, Maria See also:Theresa, against See also:Frederick the See also:Great. In 1784 Buda took the See also:place of Pressburg as the capital of Hungary, but the latter town continued to be the seat of the parliament until 1848. On the 26th of See also:December 1805 See also:peace was signed here between See also:Napoleon and the emperor See also:Francis I., and in 1809 the town was bombarded by the See also:French. See J. Kiraly, Geschichte See also:des Donau- Mauth- and Urfahr-Rechts der Freistadt Pressburg (Pressburg, 1890) ; T. Ortvay, Geschichte der Stadt Pressburg (Pressburg, 1892), and Pressburgs Strassen and Platze (Pressburg, 1905).

End of Article: PRESSBURG (Hung. Pozsony, Lat. Posonium)

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