DESSAU. d•s'sou (first called Dissouire, then Ihssol. 'lite capital of the f:ernian Duchy of .\nlialt, and re-ddence of the Duke, on the Alidde, not far from its junction with the Elbe, about seventy miles by rail southwest of I3erlin (Alap: (lerniany. E :3). 'rho town lies in a vvell•wooded plain, surrounded by a very fertile and richly cultivated eountry. The streets are broad and well shaded. The (Neal palace, biting in part from the sixteenth century, contains a collection if paintings, including -mite excellent examples of the early Italian and Flemish schools. The palace is interesting also for its line architectural features. its suite of Old German rooms. and its relic- if Prin.... Leopold (known as 'the old and Napoleon. Iln alg the other I If 111 it.. may be mentioned the old and new town hills, the ',Mapes if Princess Louise and the hereditary prince, the Parliament build ing, and the new po-t-office and the theatre. The (Imre], of Saint \buy contains several by the two Craft:whs. and in the vaults the tomb of Prince Leopold. the sarcophagus being surrounded by the figures of six grenadiers. The town's af fairs are administered by a municipal council of thirty, and an executive board of three members. The town is lighted by gas and electricity. has an excellent water-supply, and has established it modern sewerage system. An electric street railway provides for local traffic. The
considerable manufactures. chief among them being sugar-retining, iron easting and machine building. spinning and weaving of cloth, and car pet-making. It is also a river port, and carries on a lively trade, particularly in grain. Its educational establishments are numerous and exuellent, and include a gyumasium, several tech nical schools, and three large libraries, one of which is maintained by the town. Its charitable institutions arc equally numerous, chief among them being the .Ainalien Stiftung, established by the daughter of Prince Leopold, and containing an interesting collection of paintings by German and Flemish masters of the eighteenth century. Dessau is the birthplace of the poet Wilhelm :Miler. and of the philosopher Moses saint, both being commemorated by monuments. The bridge over the Eibe was the scene of the brilliant victory won during the Thirty Years' War by •allenstein over Count Slansfeld, on April 25. lfi2n. Population, in 1590, 34.658; in 1900. 508.4t1 Dessau was founded in the twelfth century by Albert the Bear. It received its civic rights as early as 1213, and upon the division of Anhalt in 1603 it became the residence of the Anhalt-Dessau line. It suffered severely during the Thirty Years' War, hut began to recover its prosperity in the eighteenth century.