Aitken (II)

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

ROBERT INGERSOLL, an American sculptor; born in San Francisco and was professor of sculpture at pro public schools, studied art at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art in San Francisco and was professor of scupture at this institution from 1901 to 1904. He showed remarkable talent in the making of portrait busts. Among those which he executed were busts of Mme. Modjeska, Augustus Thomas, William H. Taft, Henry Roger Wolcott, and others. He also designed many important monuments, including the McKinley Monument in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, the Bret Harte Monument in San Francisco, etc. He was awarded many medals for his work and became secretary of the National Sculpture Society, and a member of many American and foreign societies relating to art and sculpture. AIX-LA-CHAPELLE (ax'lä-shäp-el') (German Aachen), the capital of a district in Rhenish Prussia. Pop. about 175,000 100. Aix-la-Chapelle is the center of . a valuable coal district, and of numerous thriving manufactories, especially for spinning and weaving woolen fabrics, and for needle and pin making. There are also immense manufactures of machinery, bells, glass buttons, chemicals and cigars. The city is rich in historical associations. It emerged from historical obscurity about the time of Pepin; and Charlemagne founded its world-wide celebrity. Whether it was his birthplace is doubtful, but in 814 it became his grave. In 796 he had rebuilt the imperial palace, as well as the chapel in which Pepin had celebrated Christmas in 765. The present town-house was built in 1353 on the ruins of the palace. The ancient cathedral is in the form of an octagon, which, with various additions round it, forms on the outside a sixteen-sided figure. In the middle of the octagon, a stone, with the inscription "Carolo Magno," marks the site of the grave of Charlemagne. In 1215 Frederick II. caused the remains of the emperor to be inclosed in a costly shrine. The columns brought by Charlemagne from the palace of the Exarch at Ravenna, to decorate the interior of the octagon, had been carried off by the French; but most of them were restored at the Peace of Paris, and replaced in 1846. The town-house contains the coronation hall in which 35 German emperors and 11 empresses have celebrated their coronation banquet. The emperors were crowned in Aix-la-Chapelle from Louis the Pious to Ferdinand I. (813-1531). Seventeen imperial diets and 11 provincial councils were held within its walls. The name of the place is derived from the springs, for which it has been always famous. They are efficacious in cases of gout, rheumatism, cutaneous diseases, etc. In 1793, and again in 1794, 4, Aix-la-Chapelle was occиpied by the French. By the treaties concluded at Campo Formio and Lunéville, it was formally ceded to France, until in 1915 it fell to Prussia. The town has been the meeting place for many important reace congresses. The first Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668) ended the war carried on between France and Spain for the possession of the Spanish Netherlands. The second Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) concluded the war respecting the succession of Maria Theresa to the empire. The Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle was held in 1818, for regulating the affairs of Europe after the war. It began on Its Sept. 30, and ended on Nov. 21. principal object was the withdrawal from France of the army of occupation, 150,000 strong, as well as the receiving of France again into the alliance of the great powers. The Emperors of Russia and Austria and the King of Prussia were present in person. The five great powers assembled signed a protocol announcing a policy known as that of the "Holy Alliance." During the World War the city played an important part as a German depot, due to its nearness to the western front. As a result of the armistice Belgian troops occupied the city in December, 1919.