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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: PYR-RAY |
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RAGUSA (Serbo-Croatian Dubrovnik) , an episcopal city, and the centre of an administrative district in Dalmatia, Austria. Pop. (1900) of town and commune, 13,174, including a garrison of 1122. Its situation and its undisturbed atmosphere of antiquity combine to make Ragusa by far the most picturesque city on the Dalmatian coast. It occupies a ridge
standing
ridge
interest
house
Rector 's Palace, another noteworthy example of late Romanesque, combined with Venetian Gothic, is one of the masterpieces of Dalmatian architecture. It has a fine facade of six arches, and the capitals of the supporting pillars are very curiously carved. Especially interesting is the figure of Aesculapius, whose traditional birthplace was Epidaurum or Epidaurus, the parent city of Ragusa. The cathedral dates from the 18th century; and to the same period belongs another church, rebuilt after a fire, but originally erected as a votive offering after the pestilence of 1348, and dedicated to San Biagio (St Blaize), the patron of Ragusa, whose name and effigy continually appear on coins and buildings. Among many fine pieces of jewellers' work preserved in the ecclesiastical treasuries may be mentioned the silver statuette of San Biagio, and the reliquary which contains his skulla 17th-century casket in filigree and enamels with Byzantine medallions of the 11th or 12th century.The harbour of Ragusa, once one of the chief
village
History.The name Ragusa is of uncertain origin. Constantine Porphyrogenitus, in the loth century, connects its early form, Lausa, with Xaii, a " precipice." Jirecek dissents from this view, and from the common opinion that Dubrovnikis derived from the Slavonic dubrava, " woody." The city first became prominent during the 7th century. In 639 and 656 the flourishing Latin communities of Salona and Epidaurum were destroyed by the Avars, and the island rock of Ragusa was colonized by the survivors. Tradition identifies Epidaurum, whence the majority came, with the neighbouring village
chief
magistrate was the Venetian count; and its archbishops, who wielded much political influence, were often Venetian nominees. The constitution took shape during this period, and the first statute-book was published in 1272. Only patricians could hold office in the senate, grand council and lesser council, three bodies which shared the work of government with the count, or, after 1358, the rector . The ancient popular assembly was almost obsolete before the 14th century. Ragusan policy was usually peaceful, and disputes with other nations were frequently arranged by a system of arbitration called stanicum. To refugees of all nations, even to those who had been its own bitter foes, the city afforded asylum; and by means of treaty and tribute it worked its way to a position of mercantile power which Europe could hardly parallel. It was conveniently situated at the seaward end of a great trade route, which bifurcated at Plevlje to Byzantium and the Danube. A compact with the Turks, made in 1370 and renewed in the next century, saved Ragusa from the fate of its more powerful neighbours, Servia and Byzantium, besides enabling the Ragusan caravans to penetrate into Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia, Servia, Bulgaria and Rumania. From 1358 to 1526 the republic was a vassal state of Hungary, and no longer controlled by its greatest commercial rival. It acquired, among other territories, the important ship-building and salt-producing centre Stagno Grande (Ston Veliki), on the promontory of Sabbioncello; and from 1413 to 1416 it held the islands of Curzola, Brazza and Lesina by lease from Hungary. Mean-while, Ragusan vessels were known not only in Italy, Sicily, Spain, Greece, the Levant and Egypt, but in the more northern parts of Europe. The English language retains in the word " argosy " a reminiscence of the carracks of Ragusa, long known to Englishmen as Argouse, Argusa or Aragosa. In the 16th century the Ragusan merchants went even to India and America, but they were unable to compete with their rivals from western Europe. Many of their seamen took service with Spain; and twelve of their finest ships were lost with the Invincible Armada in 1588. After 1526 the downfall of Hungary left Ragusa free; and about this time a great development of art and literature, begun in the 15th century and continued into the 17th, earned for the city its title of the " South Slavonic Athens." (See SERVIA, Literature.) The earthquake of 1667, which had been preceded by lesser shocks in 1520, 1521, 1536 and 2639, destroyed a considerable portion of the city, and killed about one-fifth of the inhabitants. Only during the Napoleonic wars did the republic regain its prosperity. From 1800 to 1805 it was the sole Mediterranean state remaining neutral, and thus it secured a very large share of the carrying trade. In 2805, however, it was seized by the French; Napoleon deprived it of independence; and in 1814 it was annexed to Austria.See L. Villari, The Republic of Ragusa (London, 1904), for a thorough description and history, with a full bibliography. T. G. Jackson, Dalmatia, the Quarnero and Istria (Oxford, 1887), gives the best account of Ragusan architecture and antiquities. The most accurate native history is G. Gelcich (Gelcic), Dello Sviluppo civile di Ragusa (Ragusa, 1884). The course of Ragusan trade may be studied in C J. Jirecek, Die Handelsstrassen and Bergwerke von Serbien, &c. (Prague, 1879) ; and Heyd, Histoire du commerce du Levant au moyen age ( Leipzig
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