The great number of these indicates the former importance of the city.

During the Middle Ages, Aachen remained a city of regional importance, due to its proximity to Flanders, achieving a modest position in the trade in woollen cloths, favoured by imperial privilege.

Under Augustus the office lost much of its importance, its judicial functions and the care of the games being transferred to the praetor, while its city responsibilities were limited by the appointment of a praefectus urbi.

As the chief port of north-west Asia Minor, the place prospered greatly in Roman times, becoming a " free and autonomous city " as early as 188 BC, and the existing remains sufficiently attest its former importance.

The city fell under Roman rule around 60 BC, its importance lying in the commerce of tin and lead towards Rome.

Its importance waned somewhat when the French king, Charles VII, took the city at the end of the Hundred Years ' War and the Adour changed course shortly afterwards, leaving Bayonne without its access to the sea.

On June 4, 1998, the city officially opened the Museum Campus, a lakefront park, surrounding three of the city's main museums, each of which is of national importance: the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, the Field Museum of Natural History, and the Shedd Aquarium.

These games, though, were different from the games at Olympia in that they were not of such vast importance to the city of Delphi as the games at Olympia were to the area surrounding Olympia.

Gardner placed great importance on this new activity ; In order to attend their meetings, he had to arrange a weekend's leave, walk 15 miles to the nearest railway station in Haputale and then catch a train to the city.

The British realised the importance of the city as a military cantonment and as a port for exporting the produce of the Indus River basin, and rapidly developed its harbour for shipping.

The city managed to remain neutral in the Thirty Years ' War, but with the devastation caused by the decades-long war and the new transatlantic orientation of European trade, the Hanseatic League and thus Lübeck lost importance.

Capua was again put under Norman rule after the Siege of Capua of 1098 and the city quickly declined in importance under a series of ineffectual Norman rulers.

During the late Middle Ages it was an independent commune with considerable importance owing to its location on the old Via Francigena, the main road between France and Rome, but increasingly Montalcino came under the sway of the larger and more aggressive city of Siena.

Tyre, on the coast of modern-day Lebanon, was the last major Crusader city that was not captured by Muslim forces ( strategically, it would have made more sense for Saladin to capture Tyre before Jerusalem — however, Saladin chose to pursue Jerusalem first because of the importance of the city to Islam ).

After the completion of the temple, Solomon is described as erecting many other buildings of importance in Jerusalem ; for the long period of 13 years he was engaged in the building of a royal palace on Ophel ( a hilly promontory in central Jerusalem ); Solomon also constructed great works for the purpose of securing a plentiful supply of water for the city, and the Millo ( Septuagint, Acra ) for the defense of the city.

The 19th century brought industrialization of the city and the port kept its importance.

Nevertheless its important position which kept on providing access to the Persian Gulf ensured the ongoing economical importance of the city during the second millennium BC.

Compared to previous surveys, the reputation is of growing importance for the choice of the study programme as opposed to the attractiveness of the city.

* Singapore emerges for the first time as a fortified city and trading centre of some importance.

* 1268 – May 18 – The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to Baibars after the Siege of Antioch ; Baibars ' destruction of the city of Antioch was so great as to permanently negate the city's importance.

Afterwards, however, despite Muhammad's tribal connection to Mecca and the ongoing importance of the Meccan kaaba for Islamic pilgrimage ( hajj ), Muhammad returned to Medina, which remained for some years the most important city of Islam and the capital of the early Caliphate.

The departmental seat of government is called the prefecture ( préfecture ) or chef-lieu de department and is generally a city of some importance roughly at the geographical centre of the department.

Madrid became the centre of political power whilst the colonisation of the Americas reduced the financial importance ( at least in relative terms ) of Mediterranean trade.

However, rail links with Paris from 1854 and the growing importance of nearby Biarritz as a tourist centre brought industrialisation and development.

Its importance was instead conveyed by the height of the tower ( prasat ) rising above it, by its location at the centre of the temple, and by the greater decoration on its walls.

While Axbridge grew in importance as a centre for cloth manufacturing in the Tudor period and gained a charter from King John, Cheddar remained a more dispersed mining and dairy-farming village.

Toward the end of the seventeenth century, London's growing importance as a centre for trade increased demand for marine insurance.

From the 1040s onwards, however, successive popes had put forward a reforming message that emphasised the importance of the church being " governed more coherently and more hierarchically from the centre " and established " its own sphere of authority and jurisdiction, separate from and independent of that of the lay ruler ", in the words of historian Richard Huscroft.

After World War II, Leipzig became a major urban centre within the Communist German Democratic Republic but its cultural and economic importance declined.

The historic Nineveh is mentioned about 1800 BC as a centre of worship of Ishtar, whose cult was responsible for the city's early importance.

From the 1040s onwards, however, successive popes had put forward a reforming message that emphasised the importance of the church being " governed more coherently and more hierarchically from the centre " and established " its own sphere of authority and jurisdiction, separate from and independent of that of the lay ruler ", in the words of historian Richard Huscroft.

This incident and the importance of Martin in the medieval Christian West made Tours, and its position on the route of pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, a major centre during the Middle Ages.

Subsequently known as Dorpat ( Tarbatum ), Tartu became a commercial centre of considerable importance during the later Middle Ages and the capital of the semi-independent Bishopric of Dorpat.

The two emperor system originally established by Diocletian in the previous century fell into regular practice, and the east continued to grow in importance as a centre of trade and imperial power, while Rome itself diminished greatly in importance due to its location far from potential trouble spots, like Central Europe and the East.

Lacking any great industrial, religious or strategic importance, Shiraz became an administrative centre, although its population has nevertheless grown considerably since the 1979 revolution.

Thessaloniki is Greece's second major economic, industrial, commercial and political centre, and a major transportation hub for the rest of southeastern Europe ; its commercial port is also of great importance for Greece and the southeastern European hinterland.

They quickly established a fort there, and with time a community sprang up and achieved importance as port of call, missionary base and a trading centre.

Until the Dutch Golden Age Utrecht was the city of most importance of the Netherlands until Amsterdam became its cultural and most populous centre.

The importance of Utrecht as a centre of Christianity is illustrated by the election of the Utrecht-born Adriaan Florenszoon Boeyens as pope in 1522 ( the last non-Italian pope before John Paul II ).

It would not only have been the largest, but also the first post-Reformation church in England and Wales built according to a plan where the preacher was to take the centre instead of the altar, thus stressing the importance of preaching in the Protestant Church.

Known for its historic importance, Georgetown remains the administrative centre for the central Government.

The presence of Scone two miles ( 3 km ) northeast, the main royal centre of the Kingdom of Alba from at least the reign of Kenneth I mac Ailpín ( 843 – 58 ), later the site of the major Augustinian abbey of the same name founded by Alexander I ( 1107 – 24 ), enhanced Perth's early importance.

Mieszko I might have moved the capital to Gniezno from Poznań after his own and his realm's baptism, but actual move of the capital to Gniezno might have coincided with a growing German menace of the late 10th century and early 11th century depositing the remains of Saint Adalbert in a newly built church, to underline Gniezno's importance as the religious centre and capital of Bolesław I Chrobry's kingdom.