the city is to the west, but the old
portion, with all the historical buildings, is to the east. Here is the
cathedral church of St Lucius (who is the patron of Coire, and is
supposed to be a 2nd-century British king, though really the name has
probably arisen from a confusion between Lucius of Cyrene--miswritten
"_curiensis_"--with the Roman general Lucius Munatius Plancus, who
conquered Raetia). Built between 1178 and 1282, on the site of an older
church, it contains many curious medieval antiquities (especially in the
sacristy), as well as a picture by Angelica Kaufmann, and the tomb of
the great Grisons political leader (d. 1637) Jenatsch (q.v.). Opposite
is the Bishop's Palace, and not far off is the Episcopal Seminary (built
on the ruins of a 6th-century monastic foundation). Not far from these
ancient monuments is the new Raetian Museum, which contains a great
collection of objects relating to Raetia (including the geological
collections of the Benedictine monk of Disentis, Placidus a Spescha
(1752-1833), who explored the high snowy regions around the sources of
the Rhine). One of the hospitals was founded by the famous Capuchin
philanthropist, Father Theodosius Florentini (1808-1865), who was long
the Romanist cure of Coire, and whose remains were in 1906 transferred
from the cathedral here to Ingenbohl (near Schwyz), his chief
foundation. Coire is 74 m. by rail from Zurich, and is the meeting-point
of the routes from Italy over many Alpine passes (the Lukmanier, the
Splugen, the San Bernardino) as well as from the Engadine (Albula,
Julier), so that it is the centre of an active trade (particularly in
wine from the Valtelline), though it possesses also a few local
factories.

The episcopal see is first mentioned in 452, but probably existed a
century earlier. The bishop soon acquired great temporal powers,
especially after his dominions were made, in 831, dependent on the
Empire alone, of which he became a prince in 1170. In 1392 he became
head of the league of God's House (originally formed against him in
1367), one of the three Raetian leagues, but, in 1526, after the
Reformation, lost his temporal powers, having fulfilled his historical
mission (see GRISONS). The bishopric still exists, with jurisdiction
over the Cantons of the Grisons, Glarus, Zurich, and the three Forest
Cantons, as well as the Austrian principality of Liechtenstein. The gild
constitution of the city of Chur lasted from 1465 to 1839, while