Czernowitz

Czernowitz (Rum. Cernautzi), the capital of the Austrian duchy of Bukovina, 420 m. E. of Vienna and 164 m. S.E. of Lemberg by rail. Pop. (1900) 69,619. It is picturesquely situated on a height above the right bank of the river Pruth, which is crossed here by two bridges, of which one is a railway bridge. Czernowitz is a clean, pleasant town of recent date, and is the seat of the Greek Orthodox archbishop or metropolitan of Bukovina. The principal buildings include the Greek Orthodox cathedral, finished in 1864 after the model of the church of St Isaac at St Petersburg; the Armenian church, in a mixed Gothic and Renaissance style, consecrated in 1875; a handsome new Jesuit church, and a new synagogue in Moorish style, built in 1877. The most conspicuous building of the town is the Episcopal palace, in Byzantine style, built in 1864-1875, which is adorned with a high tower and possesses a magnificent reception hall. In one of the public squares stands the Austrian monument, executed by Pekary and erected in 1875 to commemorate the centenary of Austria’s possession of Bukovina. It consists of a marble statue of Austria erected on a pedestal of green Carpathian sandstone. The Francis Joseph University, also opened in 1875, had 50 lecturers and over 500 students in 1901. The language of instruction is German, and it possesses three faculties: theology, law and philosophy. The industry is not very developed and consists chiefly in corn-milling and brewing. An active trade is carried on in agricultural produce, wood, wool, cattle and spirits. Czernowitz has a mixed population, which consists of Germans, Ruthenians, Rumanians, Poles, Jews, Armenians and Gypsies. The town presents, therefore, a cosmopolitan and on market days a very varied appearance, when side by side with people turned out in the latest fashions from Paris or Vienna, we meet peasants of various nationalities, attired in their national costume, intermingled with very scantily-clad Gypsies.

On the opposite bank of the Pruth, at a very little distance to the N., is situated the town of Sadagora (pop. 4512, mostly Jews), where a famous cattle fair takes place every year.

Czernowitz was at the time of the Austrian occupation (1775) an unimportant village. It was created a town in 1786, and at the beginning of the 19th century it numbered only 5000 inhabitants.