Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Schwyz shvēts [key], canton (1993 pop. 116,100), 351 sq mi (909 sq km), central Switzerland, one of the Four Forest Cantons. Bordering on the Lake of Zürich in the north and the Lake of Lucerne in t...

(Encyclopedia) higher criticism, name given to a type of biblical criticism distinguished from textual or lower criticism. It seeks to interpret text of the Bible free from confessional and dogmatic theology. Higher...

(Encyclopedia) National Gallery, London, one of the permanent national art collections of Great Britain, est. 1824. The nucleus of museum was the 38-picture collection of the late English banker John Julius Angerste...

(Encyclopedia) Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da jōvänˈnē pyārlo͞oēˈjē päˌlāstrēˈnä [key], c.1525–1594, Italian composer whose family name was Pierluigi; b. Palestrina, from which he took his name. ...

(Encyclopedia) dictator, originally a Roman magistrate appointed to rule the state in times of emergency; in modern usage, an absolutist or autocratic ruler who assumes extraconstitutional powers. From 501 b.c. unti...

(Encyclopedia) Clermont-Ferrand klĕrmôNˈ-fĕräNˈ [key], city, capital of Puy-de-Dôme dept., central France, in ...

(Encyclopedia) Three Emperors' League, informal alliance among Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Russia, announced officially in 1872 on the occasion of the meeting of emperors Francis Joseph, William I, and Alexander I...

(Encyclopedia) Bethlen, Count Stephen, 1874–1947?, Hungarian premier (1921–31). A Transylvanian, he entered the Hungarian parliament in 1901, and in 1919 he was a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference. Called t...

(Encyclopedia) La Tène lä tĕn [key], ancient Celtic site on Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland, that gives its name to the second and final period of the European Iron Age. It is characterized by an art style that drew...

(Encyclopedia) Marx Brothers, team of American movie comedians. The members were Julius (1890?–1977), known as Groucho; Arthur (1888?–1964), originally Adolph and known as Harpo; Leonard (1887?–1961), known as...