Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/160

Rh enevolent stitr1- ons. ducatlon. 148 G 1‘) N the 10th century; but (even apart from documents still extant which relate to the works) the transition from the Romanesque to the Gothic style is sutlicient evidence that it belongs architecturally to the 1'3th and the 13th. The most glaring alteration to which it has been subjected is the substitution for the original facade (1749-1756) of a portico with Corinthian pillars, copied after the Pantheon at Rome, which, while effective and simple enough in itself, is alto- gether out of keeping with the rest of the design. In its general plan the church is a Latin cross, having a width of about 6:3 feet and a length of 187. It is lighted by 86 windows,—tlrose of the choir still preserving painted glass of the 15th century, and some of the others being ﬁlled with modern work in commerrroration of the jubilee of 1835. Of the internal decorations, the little that has been left comprises portions of the carved stalls, and a few sepulchral morurrnents—most of them removed from their original sites——Agrippa d’Aubigné’s, Michel Roset’s, Theodore de Beza’s, the duke and duclress of I1oha1r’s, &c. Among the older secular buildings in Geneva are the Hotel de Ville, the court-house, and the arsenal. The ﬁrst, which is popu- larly called the .[ai.son de Ville, or Town House, is situated to the west of St Peter's. It is first mentioned in 1448, but most of the structure dates from the 16th and l7tl1 centuries. There is nothing remarkable, except their plainness, about the several halls or clrarnbers—the hall of the lost footsteps, the chamber of the great council, the. The Srzlle dcs Feslins is now known as the Alabama Chamber, in memory of the arbitration decided within its walls in 1872. To the historian the building is interesting, not only for its associations, but for the magniﬁcent series of archives which it contains. It was in front of the house that the works of Rousseau were publicly burned in ' 1762. (See 1-Vozw. Descr. du Ilﬁtel de Ville, 1877.) The court-house was formerly a hospital, and has been appro- priated to its present purpose only since 1858. As a building it dates from 1709, and is a good specimen of the .Iansard style in vogue at the time. Among the structures of modern date the rrrost noteworthy are the academic or university buildings, the Athénée, the Rath museum, the conservatorium, the electoral palace, the new theatre, the hall of the reformation, and the Russian church. The ﬁrst stone of the academic buildings was laid is 1808. They consist of three blocks forming three sides of a square, and occupy an excellent position near the botanic gardens in the Promenade of the Bastions. The Athénée, a highly orna. mental building, vas founded for the accommodation of the old society of the arts by the wealthy Genevese, J. G. Eynard (1775-1863), well known for his generous devotion to the cause of Greek inrleperrdence. It was in 1824 and 1826 that, in accordance with his wishes, the sisters of the deceased Simon Rath (1766-1819), a general in the Russian service, devoted a large part of their fortune to the erection of the museum which preserves the name of the family. The building is in the Greek style, with a Corinthian portico and a ﬂight of steps, and it contains a collection of copies of the cardinal masterpieces of ancient art and valuable works of the modern Swiss schooL The conservatorium, whose foundation was due to Bartholony, a Genevcse ﬁnancier, owes its reputation as a musical school to Bovy Lysberg (1821-1873). The Fol museum, famous for its Greek and Etruscan vases, occupies the old Academy buildings in the Grand’ Rue. Among the larger benevolent institutions are the civic hospital, with an endowment of 3; million francs, a lunatic asylum, a deaf and dumb institute, and an orphanage ; and upwards of 200 dis- tinct societies for philanthropic. purposes are at work in the state. From a comparatively early date the Genevcse have given consi- derable attention to education. In 1 429 Francois Versonncx endowed and restored the “ great school," which continued to llourish till the leformation, and was attv.-ruled by numerous foreign pupils. An EVA academy and college were established by Calvin and Bela in 1558, and soon became famous. Since 1875 the acadcrrry has ranked as a university, having ﬁve faculties,—a scientiﬁc, a literary, a legal, a theological, aml a medical. Though medical teaching was long practised in Geneva by its more eminent plrysiciaus, according as circumstances suggested, there was no regular provision for this department till 1874, when a stall' of 13 professors and 10 privat- doccrrts was instituted. An anatomical theatre has been erected by the cantonal hospital, aml a maternity hospital and a policlim'qm- or dispensary are supported by the property of the srrppr'csscd religious corporations. In the virrtcr session of 1876—7 the university had 14') regularly enrolled students and 18?. unattached auditors ; and in the surrrrrrcr session the students numbered 155 and the auditors 147. Of the 297 regular students, no fewer than 126 were foreigners, and only 106 were Genevcse proper, while among the auditors the proportion of foreigners was still greater‘, or 187 as compared with 95. The canton 01' Geneva has no normal school, but there are two colleges (one in the town and one at Carougc), a gymnasium, and a high school for girls, and in those institutions the training oftcaehers is an object of attention. The Genevcse college had 1134 pupils in 1876—7,—309 being foreigners, and of these 139 French. In all the primary schools, with the exception of those of Carougc, Plainpalais, and Eaux Vivcs, the rrrixed system is in vogue. N early all the comrmrncs, from Laney in 1848 to Plainpalais in 1877, have been provided with educational libraries, the total number of the books in 1867 being upwards of 20,000. The “public library," formerly located in the Rue Ardaine and now in the university buildings, is an admirable institution, thoroughly deserving the title of public, as its books, without any needless formality, are at the service of even the casual reader. The first nucleus of the collection, which now rurrnbers about 75,000 volumes, was Bonivard’s bequest in 1568. As early as the 14th century, Geneva was the seat of a flourishing silk trade, and its woollen fabrics were largely exported. Fourtimcs a year‘ the streets of the town were filled with the tratlic of its fairs, which were visited by the merchants of Venice, Florence, and Genoa, of France and German Switzerland. In the 16th century hats, ribbons, velvets, woollens, and gold and silver plate, were among the principal products of Genevcse industry; the guild of armourcrs or Iccaztilzicrs was a powerful corporation; aml watchmaking was already carried to a high degree of perfection, under the intlucncc of Charles (‘usin, who had settled in the town in 1587. By 1685 there were 100 ruastcr watehrrrakers with 300 workmen, and S0 master jewellers with 200 workmen. In the 17th century the silk trade made great pro- gress, arr(l towards its close calico-prirrting was introduced by the Fazy family. During the 18th century the number of wealthy im- migrants frorn Italy gave an impetus to the various architectural industries, but at the same tinrc the political troubles tended to scatter the industrial population. Voltaire introduced a number of Gene- vcse watchmakers to Ferncy ; the French sought to make Vcrsoix a manufacturing centre ; and the Government of Savoy established a royal watch factory at Carouge. Since the restoration of Genevcse independence in 1813 the principal industries of the city and canton have steadily developed. According to the census of 1860, there were 515 master watchmakers and jewellers in the carr- ton, and the number of workers in the trade was 4876, of whom 4004 were men and 872 women. As early as 1827, about 240 per- sons were ernploycd in the manufacture of musical boxes, and this number had by 1873 increased to at least 1080 of both sexes, cap- able of turlring out 13,000 boxes in a year. Among the minor in- dustries are wood and ivory carving, the making of tools and scientific instruments, iron-smelting and engineering, and the manufacture of tobacco, soda water, and various chemical stull's. Banking operations are conducted on a large scale, and printing and publishing have long been of prime importance to the city. Print- ing was introduced in 1478 by Steinsehabcn of Schweinfurtlr ; and by 1563 there were 20 printing establishments in the city. Itobert Stephen, having fled from Paris, was received a citizen of Geneva in 1556; but his son Ilenry found that the attentions of the consis- tory could be nearly as olfensive and dangerous as those of the Sorbonnc, and the great printing establishment over which he pre- sided canre to an untimely end. For details on the contributions made by Genevcse inventors to the progress of the various arts, the reader may refer‘ to I-Ilie-Francois Wartmann’s interesting broclurrc, .I'0ticc histoﬁquc sur lcs 'invcnlz'onafaz'ts £1. G'cne‘rc, Geneva, 1873. Industri It would be hard to ﬁnd a city of the same size as Geneva which Distin- could claim the honour of being the birthplace ot' a greater number guishcd of eminent men; and still hauler perhaps to find one that had cx- Genevcse tended its hospitality to so many foreigners of distinction. In the roll of its celebrities the first place is due to J can Jacques llousseau, who, in spite of its treatment of him, rctaincd considerableall?-ctinn for “ nra. rt’-publiquc.” The house in which he was born occupied the site of No. 69 of the present lluc llousscau. Thou h M. Marc Monnier, himself a Genevcse, has found nratcrials fora vo umc on Les pnétcs dc Gcnévc, such names as lllulhauser (1806-71), author of the dramatic poems S(,'77?]IIL(‘h and Philibcrt ]lr'rt}zrl1'e)', or Petit Semi (1792-1870), whose Blzwttcs ct Boutadcs (1846) has gone through