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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: LEO-LOB |
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LIMOGES , a town of west-central France, capital of the department of Haute-Vienne, formerly capital of the old province of Limousin, 176 m. S. by W. of Orleans on the railway to Toulouse. Pop. (1906) town, 75,906; commune, 88,597. The station is a junction for Poitiers, Angouleme , Perigueux and Clermont-Ferrand. The town occupies a hill on the right bank of the Vienne, and comprises two parts originally distinct, the Cite with narrow streets and old houses occupying the lower slope, and the town proper the summit. In the latter a street known as the Rue de la Boucherie is occupied by a powerful and ancient corporation of butchers: The site of the fortificationswhich formerly surrounded both quarters is occupied by boulevards, outside which are suburbs with wide streets and spacious squares. The cathedral, the most remarkable building in the Limousin, was begun in 1273. In 1327 the choir was completed, and before the middle of the 16th century the transept, with its fine north portal and the first two bays of the nave; from 1875 to 1890 the construction of the nave was continued, and it was united with the west tower (203 ft. high), the base of which belongs to a previous Romanesque church. In the interior there are a magnificent rood loft of the Renaissance, and the tombs of Jean de Langeac (d. 1541) and other bishops. Of the other churches of Limoges, St Michel des Lions (14th and 15th centuries) and St Pierre du Queyroix (12th and 13th centuries) both contain interesting stained glass. The principal modern buildings are the town hall
chief
Limoges is the headquarters of the XII. army corps and the seat of a bishop, a prefect, a court of appeal and a court of assizes, and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a board of trade arbitration, a chamber of commerce and a branch of the Bank of France. The educational institutions include a lycee for boys, a preparatory school of medicine and pharmacy, a higher theological seminary, a training college, a national school of decorative art and a commercial and industrial school. The manufacture and decoration of porcelain give employment to about 13,000 persons in the town' and its vicinity. Shoe-making and the manufacture of clogs occupy over 2000. Other industries are liqueur-distilling, the spinning of wool and cloth-weaving, printing and the manufacture of paper from straw. Enamelling, which flourished at Limoges in the middle ages and during the Renaissance (see ENAMEL), but subsequently died out, was revived at the end of the 19th century. There is an extensive trade in wine and spirits, cattle, cereals and wood. The Vienne is navigable for rafts above Limoges, and the logs brought down by the current are stopped at the entrance of the town by the inhabitants of the Naveix quarter, who form a special
Limoges was a place of importance at the time of the Roman conquest, and sent a large force to the defence of Alesia. In II B.C. it took the name of Augustus
The religious wars, pestilence and famine desolated Limoges in turn, and the plague of 1630-1631 carried off more than 20,000 persons. The wise administrations of Henri d'Aguesseau, father of the chancellor, and of Turgot enabled Limoges to recover its former prosperity. There have been several great fires, destroying whole quarters of the city, built, as it hen was, of wood. That of ilgo lasted for two months, and destroyed 192 houses; and that of 1864 laid under ashes a large area. Limoges celebrates every seven years a curious religious festival (Fete d'Ostension), during which the relics of St Martial are exposed for seven weeks, attracting large numbers of visitors. It dates from the loth century, and commemorates a pestilence (mal des ardents) which, after destroying 40,000 persons, is believed to have been stayed by the intercession of the saint. Limoges was the scene of two ecclesiastical councils, in 1029 and 1031. The first proclaimed the title of St Martial as " apostle of Aquitaine "; the second insisted on the observance of the " truce of God." In 1095 Pope Urban II. held a synod of bishops here in connexion with his efforts to organize a crusade, and on this occasion consecrated the basilica of St Martial (pulled down after 1794). See Celestin Pore, Limoges, in Joanne's guides, De Paris 4 Ager (1867); Ducourtieux, Limoges d'apres ses anciens plans (1884) and Limoges et ses environs (3rd ed., 1894). A very full list
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