Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Gargoyle gargoyle gärˈgoil [key], waterspout used in medieval Europe to draw rainwater from church and cathedral roofs. Gargoyles were fashioned imaginatively in the form of human grotesques...

(Encyclopedia) facade fəsädˈ [key], exterior face or wall of a building. The term implies ordered placement of its openings and other features and thus seems inapplicable to a wall without design. Any freestandin...

(Encyclopedia) Galicia gəlēˈshə, –shēə; Span., gälēˈthēä [key], autonomous community, 1...

(Encyclopedia) Burckhardt, Jacob or Jakob Christoph yäˈkôp krĭsˈtôf bo͝orkˈhärt [key], 1818–97, Swiss historian, one of the founders of the cultural interpretation of history. He studied under Ranke at th...

(Encyclopedia) Acominatus, Michael kōnēāˈtēz [key], c.1140–1220, Byzantine writer and metropolitan of Athens. Acominatus' speeches, poems, and letters give much information about medieval Athens, which he, a ...

(Encyclopedia) Most môst [key], Ger. Brüx, city (1991 pop. 70,670), NW Czech Republic, in Bohemia, near the German border. It is a railway junction and industrial city in a lignite-mining area. Chemicals, steel, a...

(Encyclopedia) Chinguetti, town, central Mauritania, on the Adrar Plateau east of Atar. Founded in the 8th cent., it was a center on several trans-Saharan trade routes...

(Encyclopedia) Zeyer, Julius yo͝oˈlĭo͝os zāˈĕr, tsīˈər [key], 1841–1901, Czech writer. Restless, nostalgic, and mystical, Zeyer wrote ornate, almost decadent epic poetry based on ancient and medieval leg...

(Encyclopedia) Vadstena vädˈstāˌnä [key], town (1990 pop. 5,527), Östergötland co., S Sweden, on Lake Vättern. The town is a tourist center and a port on the Göta Canal; it has a noted lace-making industry....

(Encyclopedia) Rauma rouˈmä [key], Swed. Raumo, city (1996 pop. 37,914), Western Finland prov., SW Finland, on the Gulf of Bothnia. It is Finland's leading western port and has wood, paper, chemical, leather, muni...