Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/25

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BOLOGNA BOLOR TAGH 19 vent. The public cemetery, or campo santo, about 1 m. from the gate of San Isaia, on the site of the ancient Carthusian monastery Oer- tosa, built in 1335 and suppressed in 1797, was consecrated in 1801 under the direction of Na- poleon I., and is one of the finest and most extensive in Italy. It is approached by a cov- ered portico of arches, and contains many large halls. The church of the monastery has been preserved, with its chapels and fine pictures. Among other interesting monuments, the cem- etery contains a pantheon of university profes- sors who are buried here, and whose busts are placed in the hall. A small separate space is reserved for the burial of Protestants. In the environs of the city there are many famous churches, including the nunnery and church of Madonna di San Luca, on the summit of the monte della Guarda, with a magnificent view, and a miraculous relic of the Virgin, attributed to St. Luke. This is a great resort of pilgrims, whose annual visit is celebrated by a public festival. It is approached by a covered portico of columns with 654 arches. Conspicuous among relics of antiquity are the ruins of the so-called baths of Marcus and of a temple of lais. Bologna is famous for poodle dogs and sausages (mort-adella), but the pure breed of the former has become very scarce. There is an active trade in macaroni, salami, cervellato (a peculiar plum pudding, only made in win- ter), liqueurs, prepared fruits, artificial flowers, aromatic soaps, and particularly in silk. The wines of the vicinity are not bad, and among fruits the grape is the best. Bologna is re- garded as the hottest city in Italy in summer, and as rather cold in winter, but the climate is healthy. The principal hotel occupies an ancient Roman palace, and there are many caf6s. The local dialect, once admired by Dante as the purest of Italy, has become one of the most puzzling and least intelligible of all Italian jargons. The epithet grassa (fat) has been applied to Bologna on account of the epicurean habits of the inhabitants and the fertility of the environs. The Bolognese have been described by Tassoni as an uncontrollable people, in allusion to their sturdy spirit of in- dependence. They rank at present among the most cultivated and public-spirited citizens of Italy. Bologna was founded by the Etrus- cans under the name of Felsina. It was long held by the Boian Gauls, and in 189 B. 0. be- came a Roman colony with Latin rights, under the name of Bononia. It Wcis subsequently a place of much importance, figuring chiefiy in the civil wars which followed the death of Cffisar, and retained its prosperity after the fall of the Roman empire. Charlemagne made it a free city. In the 12th century it attained the zenith of its greatness as a republic, which, however, fell in the subsequent century, owing to intestine strife among the nobles. After having been alternately under papal dominion and under that of the Geremei, Lambertazzi, Pepoli, Bentivoglio, and other local princely families, who successively contended for supre- macy, the city voluntarily became in 1513 a papal province, though retaining many of its ancient privileges till 1796, when the French united it with the Cisalpine republic, afterward incorporating it with the kingdom of Italy. In 1815 it was restored to the Papal States. In 1821 it became the focus of republican agitation and the seat of a provisional government, and the papal governor was obliged to leave the city ; but the insurrection was put down after the occupation of the city by Austrian troops. The mismanagement of custom house officials in 1843 and other vexations became a new source of commotion, in consequence of which many Bolognese were arrested and others fled. On Aug. 14, 1848, an attempted Austrian oc- cupation was gallantly prevented by the rising of the populace, and the invaders were ex- pelled, leaving their dead and prisoners behind. After the conclusion of the treaty of peace with Sardinia, however, the Austrians returned with the concurrence of Pius IX., and after a resistance of' eight days and a repeated bom- bardment, Bologna had to surrender, May 16, 1849, and an Austrian garrison occupied the city till 1859. Bologna then seceded from the Papal States, and in 1860 became with the rest of the Romagna part of Victor Emanuel's do- minions. BOLOGNA, Giovanni da, an Italian sculptor and architect, born at Douay in Flanders about 1524, died in Florence in 1608. He studied art when a youth at Rome and Florence, which last city he made his home. He surpassed all sculptors of his time except Michel Angelo, and few artists were charged with the execution of so many and such important works. His sur- name of Bologna seems to have been derived from the celebrated fountain in that city, de- signed by himself, of which the crowning co- lossal figure of Neptune is one of the wonders of art. At Florence, however, are to be found his finest works, such as the celebrated " Rape of the Sabine Women," a group in marble, and the equally celebrated bronze of Mercury. BOLONCHEN, a village of Yucatan, 60 m. E. N. E. of Campeachy. In the plaza of the vil- lage are nine ancient wells, cut through a stra- tum of rock, and communicating with a com- mon reservoir. In the vicinity is a large cave which contains seven pools of water, of which one is 450 ft. beneath the surface of the ground. These supply the village when the wells fail in the summer months. BOLOR TAGH, or Palolo Tagh, properly the W. portion of the Karakorum range of moun- tains in central Asia, lying between the sources of the Gilgit and the Nabra, affluents of the Indus, and separating Cashmere from Chinese Turkistan. This range on the west merges in the Hindoo Koosh. The name is, however, generally applied to the Belur or Belut Tagh, a range which, running N. and S., connects the chains of Thian-shan and Kuen-lun, and forms the W. boundary of Chinese Turkistan.