TREVES (Ger. Trier, Lat. Augusta Trevirnrum), a t. of Rhenish Prussia (pop. in '71, 21,442; in '75. 32.972). capital of the circle of the same name, lies on the right bank of the Moselle, in a lovely valley, between vine-covered hills, about 65 m. s.w. of Coblenz. The river is here crossed by a bridge of 8 arches, 730 ft. long, and 25 broad. 'Peeves is a decayed place, and covers an area large in proportion to its population, owing to time number and size of the opeb spaces Nvitere houses once stood. The cathedral of St. Peter and St. lIelen is a very interesting structure of various antiquity, principally of the early German Romanesque style of the 11th c., but retaining considerable remains in the interior of a previously existing Roman church of the age of Constantine. It has beauti ful altars and tombs; rich old chasubles and missals; famous relics, among others tha "holy coat" (q.v.). Adjoining the cathedral is the Liebfrauen-kirelle, a very graceful specimen of early German Gothic architecture, finished 1111243. The only other ecclesi astical buildings of interest now remaining, are the chapel of the Benedictine convent of St. Mathias outside the town, and the church of the Jesuits. Troves contains some beautiful old dwelling-houses of Romanesque architecture. No place in Germany is so rich in remains of the Roman period. Among these are the Porte _Kigra, a colossal gateway, probably one of the live gates by which Troves was entered in Con stantine's time, the so-called Roman baths (more probably part of an imperial palace), and a basilica built of Roman brick by Constantine for a court of justice, which, after being successively the residence of the Frankish kings and archbishops, was in a great measure demolished to make room for an electoral palace erected in 1614; this has recently been removed, and the basilica restored and fitted up as a Protestant church. Beyond the walls are the ruins of an amphitheater. The piers of the already-men
tioned bridge, consisting of enormous blocks of lava, are also of the Roman period.
Troves is the seat of a bishop, and of a provincial council, has a chamber of com merce, a priestly seminary, gymnasium, a library of 96,000 vols. and numerous MSS., a museum full of valuable antiquities—including the famous Coda Aureus, or MS. of the Gospels in gold letters, presented to the abbey of St. Maximin by Ada, sister of Charlemagne—and various benevolent institutions; and it carries on manufactures of woolens, cottons, and linens, besides a brisk trade in corn, timber, and Moselle wines.
Troves derives its name from the Treriri or Treveri, a Gallic, or more probably, a Belgic people, who inhabited, in Cwsar's time, a large tract of country between the Meuse and the Rhine. Their capital, Augusta Trevirorum, probably became a Roman colony in the time of Augustus, and ultimately became the head-quarters of the Roman. commanders on the Rhine, and a frequent residence of the emperors, particularly of Con stantine. Undcr the Franks, into whose hands it fell 463 A.D., it continued to flourish. Iu 843 it passed to Lorraine; in 870, to Germany; in 895, back to Lorraine; and finally was united to Germany by the emperor Henry I. The archbishop of Troves was, in virtue of his office of chancellor of Burgundy, one of the electors of the empire, a right which seems to have originated in the 12th or 13th c., and- continued till the French revolution. The ambition and talents of some of these episcopal rulers obtained for them great political weight in Germany. Since 1814 Troves has belonged to Prussia. —See Haupt, Treres's Vergangenkett und Gegenwart (2 vols. Trier, 1822); Steiniger, Ge schichte der Trevirer linter der Rerrsehaft der Romer (Trier, 1845); and Braun, Treve und Fein Alterthumer (Trier, 1854).