Milan
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Milan. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a city of Italy. It is the second city of the kingdom, ranking next to Naples in size. It is situated on a branch of the Po, in the center of Lombardy, and is the commercial metropolis of that region. The city is surrounded by a wall seven miles in circumference. A fine drive follows the outside of the wall. The city within is a maze of narrow, crooked streets, relieved only by a few open squares. The chief building is Milan Cathedral. It stands in one of these open places. It is built of brick and is cased in white marble. It is an immense edifice of great beauty. It is noted for the vast number of spires. It was begun in 1387. It was finished by order of Napoleon in 1805. Among European cathedrals it is exceeded in size only by St. Peter's of Rome and the Cathedral of Seville. It is 477 feet in length and 183 feet in width. The main tower is 360 feet high. The general style is Gothic. The interior is particularly impressive. The vaulted roof is carried by fifty-two columns. The windows contain richly stained glass. There are over 2,000 statues. The city possesses also a beautiful gallery of high rank containing work by Leonardo da Vinci , Raphael, and other famous artists. Seen from the roof of the cathedral, the plains of Lombardy present an unending succession of cultivated fields laid off in squares by rows of Lombardy poplars or of mulberry trees. The region is one of the richest agricultural districts in the world. Water is brought from the Alps and the Pyrenees in irrigating ditches, enabling the peasants to raise a never-ending succession of crops. The meadows are cut or grazed four times a year. Rice, Indian corn, and wheat are the chief field crops. The district is noted also for cheese and milk. Milan is the industrial capital of Italy. The principal industry of the city and immediate vicinity is the production and weaving of silk. It is the second city in the world in the manufacture of silks. It is pushing Lyons, France, hard for first place. Locomotives, electrical apparatus, carpets, and earthenware are manufactured. Milan is noted also for lace, jewelry, and millinery. In fact, the word millinery is said to be derived from Milan, a milliner or Milaner being one who sold feminine articles, ribbons, and the like, from Milan. Population, 500,000.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city of northern Italy, capital of the provits public buildings are the cathedral, an imposing Gothic structure, inferior only to that of St. Peter's at Rome, or St. Paul's of London, being 485 feet long, 252 feet broad, and height of dome 355 feet, adorned with over 4,500 statues; the church of St. Ambrose, in which the German emperors usually received the Lombard crown; the Palazzo del Corte, or royal palace, and the Teatro della Scala. In the Piazza di Castello is an arena built by Napoleon I. in 1806, on the model of the amphitheater at Rome. the Brera Principal institutions are Palace, which has a library of over 140,- 000 volumes, and the Ambrosian College, containing a library of over 95,000 volumes, and 15,000 MSS. Attached to the latter is also a gallery of paintings, containing works by Titian, Da Vinci, Luini, Albano, etc., and sketches by Raphael, Pietro de de Cortona, and Caravaggio. Manufactures velvets, silks, ib ribbons, laces, carpets, glass, paper, etc. Milan is the center of the silk trade of northern Italy. Milan (ancient Mediolanum), supposed to have been founded by the Gauls, was annexed to the Roman dominions by Scipio Nascica, 191 B. C. In the 4th century, it held the rank of the 6th city of the Roman empire. Pop. about 700,000. MILAN I., King of Serbia; born in Jassy, Moldavia, Aug. 22, 1854. He studied at Paris, at the Lycée Louis-le- Grand. The assassination of his cousin, Prince Michael, caused his recall to Serbia, where he was proclaimed prince at the age of 14. A Council of Regency administered the government till the prince came of age. In 1875 he married Natalie, Princess of Stourdza, from whom he was afterward divorced, and by whom he had a son, who became King Alexander. Owing to the troubles arising out of disagreement with the queen, he abdicated in favor of his son, March 6, 1889. He was reconciled to Queen Natalie in 1893, and in 1894, despite his Na pledge to the contrary, he returned to Belgrade. He died in Vienna, Feb. 11, 1901.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's ranked Milan below Naples in 1910 and Collier's put its population at 700,000; Milan is now Italy's second city after Rome, with about 1.35 million residents and over 3 million in the metropolitan area, having long since overtaken Naples. The silk weaving that both accounts treat as the city's defining trade — "pushing Lyons, France, hard for first place" — has vanished as the city's mainstay, replaced by finance (Italy's stock exchange), publishing, design and the fashion industry. Allied bombing in August 1943 gutted much of the center and wrecked the Teatro alla Scala, which reopened in 1946; the Last Supper survived in a bombed-out refectory. The cathedral that Aiton's called finished under Napoleon in fact received its last bronze door in 1965, and restoration of the facade continues.
Written for this edition, 2026.