Treves

Treves (German Trier), a city of Rhenish Prussia, beautifully situated on the right bank of the Moselle, amidst low vine-clad hills, 60 miles south-west of Coblentz. Originally the chief place in the territory of the Treviri, a Teutonic or Celtic tribe, it became a Roman town in the days of Augustus and Claudius, and advanced so rapidly that in the 4th century it is described by Ausonius as "Rome beyond the Alps." The Roman remains are exceptionally numerous and interesting. Among the more noteworthy are the Porta Nigra (an immense gateway, perhaps erected as far back as the 1st century), the basilica, said to have been built by Constantine (now a Protestant church), the so-called "baths" (apparently the remains of an imperial palace), the pieirs of the eight-arch bridge over the river, which date from 25 B.C., and an amphitheatre outside the town capable of holding 30,000 spectators. To the mediaeval period, when Treves passed under the rule of an archbishop, who was also an Elector of the Empire, belong to the cathedral (an interesting example of German Romanesque) and the beautiful Liebfrauen Kirche, erected in the 13th century. In the former is preserved the famous "Holy Coat," said to have been the gift of St. Helena, which, on the occasion of its exhibition in 1891, attracted a vast concourse of pilgrims. The town contains extensive orchards, and carries on a considerable trade in wine, cattle, and timber; linen and cotton goods are also manufactured.