PARENZO, a city on the west coast of lstria (Austria-Hungary), 30 miles south of Trieste, with about 3000 inhabitants (2825 in 1879), has considerable historic and architectural interest. It is built on a peninsula nowhere more than 5 feet above the sea level; and from the fact that the pavements of the Roman period are 3 feet below the present surface it is inferred that this part of the coast is slowlysubsiding. The well-preserved cathedral of St Maurus was erected by Euphrasius, first bishop of Parenzo, probably between 535 and 543. The basilican type is very pure; there are three naves; the apse is hexagonal without and round within. The total length of the church proper is only 120 feet; but in front of the west entrance is a square atrium with three arches on each side; to the west of the atrium is a now roofless baptistery, and to the west of that rises the campanile; so that the total length from campanile to apse is about 230 feet. Mosaics, now greatly spoiled, form the chief decoration of both outside and inside. The high altar is covered with a noble baldachin, dating from 1277. Small portions of two temples and an inscribed stone are the only remains of the ancient Roman city that readily catch the eye....
Parentium, conquered by the Romans in 178 b.c., was made a colony probably by Augustus after the battle of Actium, for its title in inscriptions is Colonia Julia and not, as it has often been given, Col. Ulpia. It grew to be a place of some note with about 6000 inhabitants within its walls and 10,000 in its suburbs. The bishopric, founded in 524, gradually acquired ecclesiastical authority over a large number of abbeys and other foundations in the surrounding country. The city, which had long been under the influence of Venice, formally recognized Venetian supremacy in 1267, and as a Venetian town it was in 1354 attacked and plundered by Paganino Doria of Genoa. In 1630 the plague (which had already visited Parenzo in 1360, 1456, &c.) reduced the population to barely 100; but by 1800 the number had increased again to 2000. The bishoprics of Pola and Parenzo were united in 1827. The basilica is one of those churches in which the priest when celebrating mass stands behind the altar with his face to the west.
See Vergottin, Breve saggio <Γistoria della cittd di Parenzo, Venice, 1796; Kandier, Cenni al forestiero ehe visita Parenzo, Trieste, 1845; Neale, Notes on Dalmatia, Istria, <tc., 1861, with ground plan of cathedral; and E. A. Freeman in Saturday Review, 1875, reprinted in hisSuftjee∕ and Neighbour Lands of Venice, 1881.
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