UFFIZI, PALAzzo DEtu.t. A celebrated Flor entine palace, containing one of the finest collec tions of sculpture and painting in the world. it was erected in 1560-76, after the designs of Giorgio Vasari for the Government offices of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The ground story is one of the most beautiful open halls of Italy; it is roofed with barrel vaulting supported by heavy Doric pillars which extend the height of the en tire facade. The top story, now containing the gallery, was originally an open loggia. In the vestibule and court are many statues of cele brated Tuscans.
The nucleus of the gallery was a part of the celebrated collections made by the Medici in the fifteenth century. Additions were acquired or inherited by many of the :,Nledicean dukes, and the collection was bequeathed to the state by the last representative of the line in 1737. It is especially rich in antique statuary, possessing the celebrated Niobid group, the "Boy Drawing Out a Thorn," the "ApoHim)," the "Medicleen Venus," "Satyr," "Wrestlers," the "Grinder," and "Dying Alexander." The collection of paintings pos sesses numerous works by artists of the early Florentine Renaissance, such as Era Angelico, Filippo and Filippino Lippi, Domenico Mir landajo, and especially Sandro Rotticelli. The High Renaissance is well represented by Michel angelo, Fra Bartolommeo, Andrea del Sarto, Ra phael, Giorgione, Titian, and Correggio, the gal lery being especially rich in masterpieces of Titian and Raphael. There is also a fine collec tion of Flemish and Dutch masters. The cele brated "Tribuna" of the Uffizi is a small room containing many of the masterpieces of painting and sculpture. An interesting feature of the gallery is a unique collection of portraits of great masters by themselves. A passageway connects the Uffizi with the Pitti Collection. (See PITTI PALACE.) The second story of the Uffizi contains the Biblioteca Nationale, containing 300,000 vol umes and 14,000 manuscripts. Its nucleus was the Alaglialecchiana Collection, to which, in 1862, was added the Royal Library of the Pitti Palace, The Uffizi also houses the Florentine State archives, one of the richest collections of docu ments in the world.
UGANDA (05-glin'da ) PROTECTORATE. A British protectorate in British East Africa, con sisting of the native kingdom of Uganda and sev eral adjacent States. It is bounded by the paral
lel of 5° north latitude (Egyptia-n Sudan) on the north, the Congo Free State on the west, and the German East African frontier (in part following the parallel of 1° south latitude) on the south (Map: Congo Free State, F 3), The eastern boundary is marked by a line drawn through the middle of Lake Rudolf, and by what is known as the Eastern Province. The protectorate covers 80,000 square miles (estimated).
Uganda is very mountainous, its mean alti tude being given as over 3000 feet. It is a re markably diversified country, with snow peaks, elevated plains, vast forests, and low swamps; and it also embraces the very arid depression around Lake Rudolf. The variety of climate it offers is likewise exceptionally great. The Lake Rudolf region has an average altitude of 2000 feet. is tropically hot, and is the most barren and hopeless section. The Mount Elgon region and that north of the Victoria Nyanza are much more favorable to development, owing to the ample rainfall and well-watered conditions. But the climate here is generally damp, hot, and pro ducti ye of malarial fevers. This region, we4t Ward of the extinct volcano Mount Elgon—a gi gantic mass 14,000 feet high, with a crater sev eral miles wide—has an average elevation of some 4000 feet, and possesses dense forests, marshes, and many good agricultural districts. The course of the Nile front the Ripon Falls (its exit from the Victoria ,Nyanza) to Lade is within or con tiguous to, this region. The western part of the protectorate, distinguished by the Albert and Al bert Edward lakos, the magnificent snowy ill wenzori (thought to exceed 16.000 feet in eleva tion). and the deep-forested valley of the Semliki, forms a remarkable region rich in possibilities. Splendid plateaus and charming small lakes here abound. Cooling breezes make Ankori and Torn not only habitable, but inviting. In the Nile Val ley to the north the beat is extreme, the rainfall abundant. The northern part of the protector ate is generally forbidding. The waters of the many lakes which characterize the pro tectorate are partly fresh and partly salt. Kioga Kwania and Deveru may be mentioned in addi tion to the lakes already named.