Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1858-11-18

zen or replendent lady descend from the drosh-
Expresses through the throng and fall on their
knees before the holy picture inside the sane
tuary. We press in, among hackmen, beggars,
merchants and high officials, all SO intent on
their manipulations that they do not even see
us, and finally reach niche lighted with silver
lamps, before screen dazzling with gold, sill
yer and precious stones. A hghborn lady in
silk and lace and q lousy bearded serf are kneel-
ing side by side and kissing with passionate
devotion the glass cover over Byzantine mo-
ther and child, of dark, mulatto complexion,
whose hands and faces alone are visible through
their gilded and jewelled mantles. This is the
''lberian Mother of GOd"- miraculous pic
ture, which, after working wonders in Georgia
and on Mount AthoS, has for the last two hun
dred years been the protectoresS of the Mosco-
vites. Her aid is invoked by high and low,
in all the circumstances of life, and | doubt
whether any other shrine in the world is the
witness of such general and so much real de.
yotion
Once within the Sunday Gate, we see be-
fore us the long hrdsnoi Ploshad, or Red
Square, stretching southwark to the bank of
! the MOskva. Close on our right towers the
gray wall of the kremlin-for, although on
the hill, we are not yet fairly within the sa-
cred citadcl-while on the left parallel to it,
is the long, low front of the GoStinn0ir Door,
or Great Bazaar. In the center of the square
is bronze monument to Minim aud Pojarski
the Russian heroes, who in 1910 aroused the
people, stormed Moscow, and drove out Vlad-
iSlas of Poland, who had been called to the
throne by the BOyardS. But for this act the
relative destiny of the two powers might have
been reversed. The Russians therefore, de-
servedly honor the memory of the sturdy butch
er of Mini NovOgrod, who, like the Roman
| CiccronacCiO, seems to have been the master
spirit Of the Revolution. He is represented
as addressing Pojarski, the General, who sits
before him, listening, one hand on his sword
The figures are cOllOSal, and full of fire and
yigor. A short distance beyond this monu-
meut is small circular platform of masonry,
which is said to have been throne, or public
judgment seat, of the early Cars.
Proceeding down the square to its southern
extremity, we halt at last before the most as
toniShing structure our eyes ever beheld. What
is it?-a church, pavilion, or an immense
! toy All the cOlOrS of rainbow, all the
| forms and combinations which straight and
cnrbed lines can produce, are here compound
ed 1t seems to be the product Of some ar
ChiteCtural kaleidoscope, i'll which the most in
cOngruOus thing assumes a certain order and
system, for surely such another bewildering
pile does not exist. 1t is not beautiful, for
beauty requires at least suggestion of syme
! try and here the idea of proportion or adap-
tiOn is wholly lost. Neither is the effect often
sive, because the maze of colorS, in which red,
green and gold predominant, attracts and ca
joles the eye. The purposed incongruity of
the building is seen in the minutest details, and
where there is accidental resemblance in form,
it is balanced by difference in color.
This is the cathedral of ST Basil, built du-
ring the reign If Ivan the Terrible, who is said
to have been SO charmed with the work, that
| he caused the eyes of the architect to be blind
ed, to prevent him from ever building another
such. The same story, however, is told of va
rious buildings, clocks and various pieces of
mechanism, in Europe, and is doubtless false.
Examining the cathedral more closely, We find
it to be an agglomeration of towers, no TWO of
which are alike, either in height, shape, or any
other particular. Some are round, some square,
some hexagonal one ends in a pryamidal
| Spire, another in a cone, and Others bulging
domes of the most fantastica pattcrn-twiSted
in spiral bands of yellow and green like an an
! cient Moslem turban, vertically ribbed with
! green and silver, checkered with squares of
| blue and gold, covered with knObbed scales,
like pine cone, or with overlapping leaves of
crimson, purple, gold and green. Between
! the bases of these towers galleries are intro
duced which, again, differs in style and Orna-
ment as the towers themselves. The interior
walls are covered with a grotcSque maze of
painting consisting of howcrpots, thistles,
roses, vines birds, beasts and scrOllwOrk, twin
ed together in an eXtricabe confusion as We
often see in Byzantine capitals and frieZes.
! The interior of the cathedral is no less GU
riOus than the outside. Every tower enclOS
es a chapel, so twelve or fifteen saints here
have their shrines under one roof, yet enjey
the taperS, the incense and prayers of their
worshppers in private, no one interfering with
the other. The chapels, owing to their narrow
bases and great height, resemble fines. Their
sides are covered with sacred frescOes and all
manner of ornamental painting on golden |
ground, and as you look up the diminishing
shaft, the colossal face of Christ the Virgin, or
the protecting Saint, stares down upon you
from the hollow of the capping dome The |
central tower is l2O feet high, while the diam
eter of the chapel inside it cannot be more
than thirty feet at the base. cannot better
describe this singular structure than by calling
it the Apothesis of ChimneyS.
Let us now turn back few steps, and pass
through the Kremlin wall by the Spass Ioratd,
or Gate of the Redeemer This is even more
peculiarly sacred than the chapel of the lbe-
rian Mother Over the hollow arch hangs a
picture of the Saviour which looks with be-
nignity upon the Russians bnt breathes fire
and thunder upon their foes The Tartars, so
says tradition, have been driven back again
and again from this gate by miraculous resist
ance, and, though the French entered at last,
all their attempts to blow it up were in vain.
The other entrance, the Gate of st. Nicholas,
has also its picture but of less sanctity. Here |
the French succeeded in cracking the arch as far