Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

478 results found

Porvoo

(Encyclopedia)Porvoo bôrˈgō [key], city (1996 pop. 21,313), Southern Finland prov., S central Finland, on the Gulf of Finland at the mouth of the Porvoonjoki River. It is an export center for forest products and...

Saint Gall, former Benedictine abbey, Switzerland

(Encyclopedia)Saint Gall, former Benedictine abbey, at St. Gall, Switzerland. Originating in a cell built c.614 by St. Gall, an Irish missionary (see Columban, Saint), it became an abbey under Charles Martel (8th c...

San Juan Capistrano

(Encyclopedia)San Juan Capistrano săn wän kăpĭsträˈnō [key], city (1990 pop. 26,183), Orange co., S Calif.; inc. 1961. San Juan Capistrano has some manufactures, including aircraft parts, medical apparatus, ...

Périgueux

(Encyclopedia)Périgueux pārēgöˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 32,848), capital of Dordogne dept., SW France, on the Isle River. A commercial center and transportation hub, it is famous for the pâtés that are its ch...

Vionnet, Madeleine

(Encyclopedia)Vionnet, Madeleine, 1876–1975, French fashion designer. She worked for Parisian and London dressmakers and designed for the Callot Soeurs and Jacques Doucet houses before opening her own studio in 1...

Zao Wou-Ki

(Encyclopedia)Zao Wou-Ki or Chao Wu-chi, 1920–2013, Chinese-French painter who combined a traditional Asian sensibility with Western abstraction. He studied ink painting and calligraphy as well as Western art tec...

bookplate

(Encyclopedia)bookplate, label pasted in a book to indicate ownership, also called ex libris [Lat.,=from the books of]. The bookplate is usually of paper on which heraldic or other designs are engraved or printed. ...

Bigot, François

(Encyclopedia)Bigot, François fräNswäˈ bēgōˈ [key], 1703–77?, intendant of New France (1748–59), b. Bordeaux, France. At Louisburg, where he served (1739–45) as commissary, it has been said that he ind...

telegraph

(Encyclopedia)telegraph, term originally applied to any device or system for distant communication by means of visible or audible signals, now commonly restricted to electrically operated devices. Attempts at long-...

Igor, 1151–1202, Russian prince

(Encyclopedia)Igor (Igor Sviatoslavich) ēˈgər svyäˌtəsläˈvĭch [key], 1151–1202, Russian prince. In 1185 he was defeated by the Cumans in an expedition that was immortalized in the epic Slovo o polku Igor...

Browse by Subject