Pola in the 1911
Encyclopedia Brittanica
The highly acclaimed 1911 Encyclopedia
Brittanica gave the following entry:
POLA ([*], Slovene, Pulj), a seaport of Austria, in Istria, 86 m. S.
of Trieste by rail. Population (1900), 45,052.
It is the principal naval harbour and
arsenal of the Austro Hungarian monarchy, and is situated near the southern
extremity of the peninsula of Istria. It lies at the head of the Bay of
Pola, and possesses a safe and commodious harbour almost completely
landlocked. An extensive system of fortifications, constructed on the hills,
which enclose the harbour, defends its entrance, while it also possesses a
good roadstead in the large channel of Fasana. This channel separates the
mainland from the Brionian Islands, which dominate the entrance to the bay.
The harbour has an area of 332 sq. m., and is divided into two basins by a
chain of three small islands. The inner basin is subdivided by the large
Olive Island into the naval harbour, lying to the south, and the commercial
harbour, lying to the north. The Olive Island is connected with the coast by
a chain-bridge, and is provided with wharfs and dry and floating docks. The
town proper lies opposite the Olive Island, round the base of a hill
formerly crowned by the Roman capitol and now by a castle from the 17th
century. Besides the castle the chief buildings are the cathedral, dating
from the 15th century; the new garrison church, completed in 1898 in the
Basilica style, with a fine marble façade; the Franciscan convent dating
from the 13th century, and now used as a military magazine; the huge
infantry barracks; and the town-hall, dating from the beginning of the 14th
century. To the south-west, along the coast, extends the marine arsenal, a
vast and well-planned establishment possessing all the requisites for the
equipment of a large fleet. It contains an interesting naval museum, arid is
supplemented by the docks and wharves of the Scoglio Olivi. The artillery
laboratory and the powder magazine are on the north bank of the harbour.
Behind the arsenal lies the suburb of San Policarpo, almost exclusively
occupied by the naval population and containing large naval barracks and
hospitals. In the middle of it is a pleasant park, with a handsome monument
to the emperor Maximilian of Mexico, who had been a rear-admiral in the
Austrian navy. To the north, between San Policarpo and the town proper,
rises the Monte Zaro, surmounted by an observatory and a statue of Admiral
Tegetthoff.
Pola has no manufactures outside of its
naval stores, but its shipping trade is now considerable, The the exports
consisting of fish, timber and is quartz sand used in making Venetian glass,
and the imports of manufactured and colonial wares. To many people, however,
the chief interest of Pola centres in its fine Roman remains. The most
extensive of these is the amphitheatre built in A.D., in honour of the
emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla, which is 79 ft. high, 400 ft. long
and 320 ft. wide, and could accommodate 20,000 spectators. It is remarkable
as the only Roman amphitheatre of which the outer walls have been preserved
intact; the interior, however, is now completely bare — though the
arrangements for the naumachiae, or naval contests, can still be traced. The
oldest Roman relic is the fine triumphal arch of the Sergii, in the
Corinthian style, erected soon after the battle of Actium; and of not much
later date is the elegant and well-preserved temple of Augustus and Roma —
erected in the year 19 B.C. Among the other antiquities are three of the old
town gates and a fragment of a temple of Diana.
The foundation of Pola is usually carried
back to the mythic period, and ascribed to the Coichian pursuers of Jason
and the Argonauts. In all probability it was a Thracian colony, but its
verifiable history begins with its capture by the Romans in 178 B.C. It was
destroyed by Augustus on account of its espousal of the cause of Pompey, but
was rebuilt on the intercession of his daughter Julia, and received
(according to Pliny) the name of Pietas Julia. It became a Roman colony
either under the triumviri or under Octavian, and was mainly important as a
harbour. It seems to have attained its greatest prosperity about the time of
the emperor Septimius Severus (193-211 A.D.), when it was an important war
harbour and contained 35,000 to 50,000 inhabitants. At a later period Pola
became the capital of the margraves of Istria, and was captured by the
Venetians in 1148. It was several times captured and plundered by the
Genoese, and recaptured by the Venetians. In 1379 the Genoese, after
defeating the Venetians in a great naval battle off the coast, took and
destroyed Pola, which disappears from history for the next four hundred and
fifty years. It remained under Venetian supremacy down to 1797, and has been
permanently united with Austria since 1815. In 1848 a new era began for Pola
in its being selected as the principal naval harbour of Austria.
See:
- Th. Mommsen in Corp. inscr. latin. v. 3
sqq. (Berlin, 1883);
-
T. G. Jackson, Dalmatia,
the Quarnero and Istria, vol. iii. (Oxford,
1887).
*The 1911 Encyclopedia included the Greek
spelling, but because the OCR conversion is incorrect, it is not shown here.
Also not included is the present-day Croatian spelling which may not then
have existed.
Source:
-
https://www.1911encyclopedia.org/P/PO/POLA.htm
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