or TRIEST (anc. Tergeste), the principal seaport of the Austrian empire, capital of a government and of the crown land of Illyria, at the head of the Gulf of Trieste, in the N.E. of the Adriatic, 73 miles E.N.E. of Venice. The older part of the town is built on the slope of a hill, which is crowned by the castle; the new town on the level ground close to the semicircular bay that forms the harbour. The former is remarkable for its steep narrow streets and black walls; the latter, separated from it by a broad street called the Corso, is well-built and regularly laid out. In the old town the most important building is the cathedral, which stands near the castle on the hill. It is a very ancient building in the Byzantine style, founded in the fifth century, and consists of a nave and four aisles. It has been constructed of fragments of older buildings, and was somewhat spoiled by additions and alterations in the fourteenth century. The tower is believed to stand on the foundations of an ancient temple of Jupiter. In the adjoining churchyard is the grave of Fouché, Napoleon's celebrated minister of police, and that of Winckelmann the antiquary, who was murdered in Trieste in 1768. In the new town, which is divided into two parts by a broad canal, among the principal buildings are the Greek church, richly and brilliantly adorned in the interior, and the Ter-gesteum, a large square edifice containing bazaars, a concert and ball-room, exchange, reading-rooms, &c. Since the erection of this building the old exchange, near which is a fountain and statue of Leopold I., has been disused. Trieste has several churches besides those already mentioned, two theatres, a custom-house, post-office, hospital, barracks, governor's palace, various schools, &c. The harbour is not without its disadvantages, as it is not sufficiently protected from storms; but it is on the whole good, and has contributed largely to raise the town to its present importance. Its form is semicircular, and it is deep enough to admit large merchantmen to the inner part; but ships of the line have to anchor in the roadstead outside. It is divided into several smaller portions by small piers, and lined with spacious quays. The mole of St Theresa, which has a fort and lighthouse, bounds the harbour on the south, and opposite to it is the new lazaretto, with a basin capable of containing seventy ships in quarantine. Trieste is the only great town of the German confederation on the Adriatic. It is connected by railway with Vienna and other large towns in Germany and Italy; and its many advantages have enabled it to take the place which Venice formerly occupied as the great commercial mart in this part of Europe. The number and tonnage of vessels that entered and cleared at the port in each year, from 1852 to 1857, were as follows:

| Year | Entered | Cleared | |------|---------|---------| | | No. | Tonage | No. | Tonage | | 1852 | 2749 | 427,908 | 2547 | 425,484 | | 1853 | 3015 | 450,210 | 3014 | 461,290 | | 1854 | 2976 | 445,185 | 2973 | 458,471 | | 1855 | 2455 | 390,963 | 2354 | 386,062 | | 1856 | 2542 | 415,627 | 2388 | 398,734 | | 1857 | 2215 | 382,692 | 2239 | 396,756 |

The value of the imports and exports from 1850 to 1855 was as follows:

| Year | Imports | Exports | |------|---------|---------| | 1850 | L.3,554,213 | L.1,445,312 | | 1851 | 3,121,490 | 1,697,096 | | 1852 | 3,529,860 | 2,139,335 | | 1853 | 3,032,173 | 2,315,589 | | 1854 | 2,408,451 | 2,378,240 | | 1855 | 2,562,245 | 2,783,154 |

The navigation is chiefly under the Austrian, Neapolitan, Papal, and French flags; and the principal exports are metals, linen and woollen cloth, calico, hemp, wool, hides, furs, timber, tobacco, corn, rice, wine, and oil; while cotton, silk, raisins, wheat from Odessa, and all kinds of colonial produce, are the articles most largely imported. The Austrian Lloyd's Steam-packet Company, formed in 1833, is one of the principal establishments of the town. It has forty or fifty steamers, which ply between Trieste and the principal ports in the Adriatic, the Levant, and the Black Sea as far east as Trebizonde. Trieste has some importance as a manufacturing town, though it is chiefly remarkable for its commerce. Shipbuilding is carried on to a large extent, and there are several extensive docks for that purpose. There are also made here earthenware, leather, wines, spirits, soap, white lead, &c. The inhabitants of Trieste are a motley multitude, collected from almost all countries of the world; Germans, Italians, Greeks, Jews, Armenians, English, and Americans. A great variety of languages is heard, but Italian is the most common, except in the public offices, where German is spoken; and among the peasantry, who use a Slavonic dialect. The ancient Tergeste existed in the time of the Romans, but was then a place of no great importance, being outrivalled by the neighbouring town of Aquileia. In the middle ages, Venice was the great seaport and commercial mart in this part of the Adriatic; and Trieste did not rise to its present importance till about the middle of the eighteenth century, when the enlightened policy of Maria Theresa conferred on the town many favours, and laid the foundation of its commercial greatness. Pop. (1852) 70,846.