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Trieste

Trieste had a naval arsenal and was the storehouse for the Austro-Hungarian navy. The harbor, the main attraction of Triest proper, had been greatly extended and improved under the Dual Monarchy. There are a number of moles and an immense breakwater. The Canal Grande (only 400 yards long) penetrates the city north of the Corso and permits vessels to load and unload at the warehouses.Triest had found a rival in the Hungarian port of Fiume, but its commercial preeminence is vigorously supported by the Austrian government.

The principal seaport of Austria-Hungary, situated at the northeast extremity of the Adriatic Sea, on the Gulf of Triest, 367 miles by rail southwest of Vienna. Triest and the adjoining district formed an Austrian crown-land, and the city was the general administrative seat of the Austrian Kustenland. The city, which was strongly fortified, extended somewhat in the manner of an amphitheatre along the acclivity of the Karst. The old town, with its narrow, crooked, and steep streets, lay at the base of the Castle Hill and between it and the gulf. In its northwestern corner, close to the water, was the Tergesteo, a huge edifice, whose cruciform arcades, roofed with glass, are used for the exchange and for various shops and offices. Near by were the two leading squares, the Piazza della Borsa and the Piazza Grande. From this vicinity the Corso, the principal street, extended eastward, separating the old town from the new quarter, where broad avenues led up towards the inclosing hills.

On the west side of the Castle Hill, in the old town, the cathedral of San Giusto occupies a conspicuous site where a Roman temple once stood. It is a composite structure, dating from the fourteenth century. It was formed by joining three ecclesiastical edifices, which had stood there since the sixth century. On the Piazza Grande were the splendid new municipal buildings. Triest had a Museo Lapidario, an open-air museum of Roman antiquities, occupying a disused cemetery. The town had a nautical academy containing the municipal museum, with Roman antiquities, and the Ferdinand-Maximilian Museum, with its collection of Adriatic fauna.

Towards the southern end of the city is the Museo Civico Rpvoltella in the palace of that name. Near by stands the fine bronze monument to Maximilian of Mexico by Schilling. From this point leading south and following the curve of the gulf extends the Passeggio di Sant' Andrea, affording fine views for more than 3 miles, and reaching the vast wharves of the Lloyd Company. The public gardens are in the northeast of the city. Among the attractions of Triest is the famous chateau of Miramar, situated on the sea to the northwest, which belonged to Maximilian. It has a lovely park and offers beautiful sea views. The city contains a Greek church with rich decorations, a Jesuit church, and a Capuchin convent. There were a commercial academy, an astronomical and meteorological observatory, a public library with over 120,000 volumes, and museums of natural history and antiquities.

At the head of the industrial establishments of Trieste stood the two ship-building yards of the Austrian Lloyd and of the Stabilimcnto Técnico Tncstino, which were the largest of their kind in Austria. The Stabilimento Técnico was also fitted up for the construction of war-ships. They are equipped with all the latest technical innovations, and employ over 5000 workmen. Petroleum refineries, iron-foundries, chemicals, soap-boiling, silk-spinning and the production of ships' fittings, as marine steam boilers, anchors, chains, cables, are the other principal branches of industry.

The great importance of Trieste lies in its trade. It is the first port of Austria, and the principal outlet for the over-sea trade of the monarchy. It may be said nearly to monopolize the trade of the Adriatic, and has long eclipsed its ancient rival Venice. It owes its development to its geographical situation in the north-east angle of the Adriatic Sea at the end of the deeply indented gulf, and to its harbor, which was more accessible to large vessels than that of Venice.

In 1913 there were entered at the port 14,231 vessels, of 5,480,074 tons, and cleared 14,186, of 5,475,445 tons. There is a very large trade in grain, oil, wine, and many other products. The local mercantile fleet is large. At the Austrian Lloyd shops many vessels are annually constructed. Triest built ships of all varieties and manufactured marine steam engines, cables, furniture, silks and cottons, clothing, liquors, wax lights, soap, etc.

Pop., 1910 (city), 160,993; crownland, 229,510. The crownland consists of the city and outlying territory; its total area is only 36.9 square miles. In the crownland the percentage of persons whose vernacular was Italian was 62.3; Slovene, 29.8; German, 6.2. Of the inhabitants of the crownland, 94.9 per cent were returned as Roman Catholic, 2.4 Jewish, and 1.1 Evangelical.

Triest is the Roman Tergeste. At the time of the foundation of Aquileia by the Romans, the district which now includes Trieste was occupied by Celtic and Illyrian tribes; and the Roman colony of Tergeste does not seem to have been established till the reign of Vespasian. After the break-up of the Roman dominion Trieste shared the general fortunes of Istria and passed through various hands. From the emperor Lolhair it received an independent existence under its count-bishops, and it maintained this position down to its capture by Venice in 1203. For the next 180 years its history consists chiefly of a series of conflicts with this city, which were finally put an end to by Trieste placing itself in 1382 under the protection of Leopold III of Austria.

Since 1382 it has been a part of Austria, except in 1797- 1805 and 1809-13. The overlordship thus established insensibly developed into actual possession, and except in the Napoleonic period (1797-1805 and 1800-1813) Trieste has since remained an integral part of the Austrian dominions. It was an imperial free port from 1719 until 1891. It was made a free port in 1719 by Charles VI, which date marks the beginning of its importance. It finally became the commercial rival of Venice. With its territory it was constituted a separate crownland in 1807.

The harbor was blockaded by an Italian fleet from May until August 1848. During the Italian and Hungarian revolutions Trieste remained faithful to Austria, and received the title of Cilta Fedelissima. In 1867 Trieste and the adjoining territory was constituted into a separate crown land. In 1888 a monument was erected in commemoration of the sooth anniversary of the connexion of the town with Austria. Triest waa the objective of an Italian campaign in the great war. It was attacked by aerial forces several times.