Cenis
Cenis names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Cenis MONT (se-ne')
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
MONT (se-ne'), a mountain belonging to the Graian Alps, between Savoy and Piedmont, 11,755 feet high. It is famous for the winding road constructed by Napoleon I., which leads over it from France to Italy, and for an immense railway tunnel, which, after nearly 14 years' labor, was finished in 1871. The tunnel does not actually pass through the mountain, but through the Col de Fréjus, about 15 miles to the S. W., where it was found possible to construct it at a lower level. The Mont Cenis Pass is 6,765 feet above the level of the sea, whereas the elevation of the entrance to the tunnel on the side of Savoy is only 3,801 feet, and that on the side of Piedmont 4,246 feet. The total length of the tunnel is 42,145 feet, or nearly 8 miles. The total cost amounted to about $15,000,000, which was borne partly by the French and Italian governments and partly by the Northern Railway Co. of Italy. The tunnel superseded a grip rail way which was constructed over the mountain by Mr. Fell, an English engineer, 1864-1868.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
se-ne', a mountain of the southeastern Alps between southern France and northern Italy. It is crossed by the Mount Cenis Pass, 6,697 feet above the level of the sea. This is the route by which Napoleon first constructed his winding roadway over the mountain. In 1857 work was begun on a railway tunnel through the shoulder of the mountain. Workmen labored at each end. On Christmas Day, 1870, they met in the middle of the mountain and found that their borings lacked but a few inches of being in line with each other. The tunnel is wide enough for two railway tracks. It is about eight miles in length and cost nearly $12,000,000. Part of the expense was defrayed by the governments of France and Italy, and part by the Northern Railway Company of Italy. Prior to this date railroad communication between the two countries was not practicable. See Bernard ; Simplon ; Tunnel
Cenis MONT Francesco Cenci
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
MONT Francesco Cenci, a noble and wealthy Roman, who, according to the common story, after his second marriage, behaved toward the children of his first marriage in the most shocking manner, procured the assassination of two of his sons, on their return from Spain, and debauched his youngest daughter ughter Beatrice. She failed in an appeal for protection to the Pope, and planned and executed the murder of her father. She was beheaded in 1599 and the Cenci estates confiscated. She is the alleged subject of an admired painting by Guido, and is the heroine of one of Shelley's most powerful plays. Recent researches have deprived the story of most of its romantic elements, and have shown Beatrice to be a very commonplace criminal, whatever the evil deeds of her father may have been. Her stepmother and brother, who were equally guilty with her, were also executed. The portrait by Guido is now believed not to represent her at all.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote in 1921 the Fréjus ("Mont Cenis") tunnel of 1871 was the great fact of the pass; it is still in daily use, but the frontier around it has moved — the 1947 Treaty of Paris transferred the Mont Cenis plateau from Italy to France — and in 1968-70 the plateau was flooded by a dam to form the Lac du Mont Cenis, drowning the old hospice site. A road tunnel under the Fréjus col opened in 1980 alongside the railway, and since 2016 crews have been driving the 57.5-km Mont d'Ambin base tunnel for the Lyon–Turin high-speed line, a bore seven times the length of the one that took "nearly 14 years' labor". On the second subject, Collier's scepticism has held: scholars still treat Beatrice Cenci's 1599 execution as a family murder rather than a romance, and the Guido Reni portrait in the Palazzo Barberini is no longer thought to show her.
Written for this edition, 2026.