KASCHAU (Hung., Kassa; Lat., Cassovia), an ancient royal free town, and capital of the cis-Tisian county of Abauj, Hungary, is pleasantly situated on the right bank of the Hernâd, in a valley surrounded by sloping vineyards, about 130 miles north-east from Budapest, with which city, as also with Cracow, Lemberg, and other centres, it is connected by railway, 48° 42' N. lat., 21° 17' E. long. Kaschau is the see of a Roman Catholic bishop suffragan of Eger (Erlau), the headquarters of the general administration for the county, and has royal and magisterial courts of law, as well as boards of assay, finance, and postal direction, and the supervision of the tobacco manufacture. Kaschau is one of the best built towns in Hungary, and consists of the inner town, intersected by the Csermel, which forms an island and is crossed by several bridges, and three suburbs (upper, middle, and lower) approached by a broad glacis. The most remarkable edifice, considered the grandest masterpiece of architectural skill in Hungary, is the cathedral of St Elizabeth, situated in the great square, and built in a faultless Gothic style. Commenced about 1270 by Stephen V., the structure was continued 1324-82 by Queen Elizabeth, wife of Charles I., and her son Louis I., and finished about 1468, in the reign of Matthias I. (Corvinus). The interior was transformed in the 18th century to the Renaissance style, and restored in 1859-65. The church of St Michael and the Franciscan or Garrison church date from the 13th century. The royal law academy, founded in 1659, and sanctioned by golden bull of King Leopold I. in 1660, has an extensive library; there are also a museum, a Roman Catholic upper gymnasium and seminary for priests, and other schools and benevolent institutions. Kaschau is the centre ...