BARI (anc.

See also:

• BARIUM (symbol Ba, atomic weight 137'37 [0=16])

Barium)  , a seaport and archiepiscopal see of Apulia, Italy, capital of the province of Bari, situated on a small peninsula projecting into the Adriatic, 6g m . N.W. of Brindisi by rail . Pop . (190i) 77,478 . The town consists of two parts, the closely built old town on the peninsula to the N., and the new town to the S., which is laid out on a rectangular plan . The former contains the cathedral of S . Sabino, begun in 1035 but not completed till 1171: the exterior preserves in the main the fine original architecture (notably the dome and campanile), but the interior has been modernized . Not far off is the church of S . Nicola, founded in Io87 to receive the relics of this saint, which were brought from Myra in Lycia, and now lie beneath the altar in the crypt . The facade is fine, and the interior, divided into three naves by columns, with galleries over the aisles, has fortunately not been restored; the vaulting of the crypt has, however, been covered with modern stucco . The church is one of the four Palatine churches of Apulia (the others being the cathedrals of Acquaviva and Altamura, and the church of Monte S . Angelo sul Gargano) .

Adjacent is the small church of S . Gregorio, belonging also to the 11th

century . The castle, built in 1169, and strengthened in 1233, lies on the W. side of the old town: it is now used as a prison . The old harbour lies on the E. side of the peninsula, and the new on the W . In the new town is the Ateneo, containing the provincial museum, with a large collection of vases found in the district, in which the pre-Hellenic specimens are especially important (M . Mayer in Romische Mitteilungen, 1897, 201; 1899, 13; 1904, 188, 276) . Bari is the seat of the command of the IX. army corps, and the most important commercial town in Apulia . It manufactures olive oil, soap, carbon sulphide and playing-cards, and has a large iron foundry . Barium does not seem to have been a place of great importance in early antiquity; only bronze coins struck by it have been found . In Roman times it was the point of junction between the coast road and the Via Traiana; there was also a branch road to Tarentum from Barium . Its harbour, mentioned as early as 181 B.C., was probably the principal one of the district in ancient times, as at present, and was the centre of a fishery . But its greatest importance dates from the time when it became, in 852, a seat of the Saracen power, and in 885, the residence of the Byzantine governor .

In 1071 it was captured by

Robert Guiscard . In 1095 Peter the Hermit preached the first crusade there . In 1156 it was razed to the ground, and has several times suffered destruction . In the 14th century it became an independent duchy, and in 1558 was left by Bona Sforza to Philip II. of Spain and Naples . (T .