Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1881-08-18
The Kremlln at Moscow.

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occupied magnificent mansions, reared
by Grecian and Italian architects. 1t
was here in 1547 thatithe great fire-for
the kremlin has never been a stranger
to tire-wrOught its awful destruction,
battling all human power Here it was
that the venerable metropolitan bishop,
| pleading at the altar for divine interpo-
sition, was with great difficulty rescued.
Smothered and in state of insensibility
the old prelate was borne through bill
lows of flame and smoke, while the Pal
ace of the Emperor, his treasures and
the archives of the empire, were all con-
sumed
The Kremlin hill stands almost in the
center of Moscow. 1t is triangular in
form. the longest side facing the Moskva,
about mile in circumference and tri-
fie under 100 feet in height Adjoining
it on the east is the hItai GOrOd
Chinese City, inclosed within the an
cient walls, which rising directly from
the Moskva, mt the foot of the hill, on
the southern side, climb it at either end
and crown it on the north. There was,
i'll its earlier history, lake-like moat
around the northern side of the hill, but
Alexander l. drained it and converted it
into a pleasant garden The golden
dOmes of the Kremlin were SO construct
ed AS to be visible from almost every
part of Moscow.
Travellers have vainly essayed to do
justice to the beauties of the place; even
Bayard Taylor pleads the lack of de-
scr1ptlVe power to do the Kremlin JUS
tice. The main entrance is through
double-towered portal called the Sunday
Gate. Built against the wall, between
two archways,i is little chapel or shrine,
entering which, bareheaded, all the
pious do reverence. Within the chapel
is reached niche lighted with silver
lamps before a screen dazzling with gold
silver and precious stones. High-born
lady and serf kneel side by side to de-
votionally kiss the glass cover over a
Byzantine mother and child of dark com
plexion. This is the '1berian mother of
God, miraculous picture, for hundreds
of years the protectress of the Mus
covites, and her intercession is sought
by all.
Within the Sunday gate is the long
KraSmOi PiOShdd, or Red Square,
stretching south to the bank of the
Moskva. On the right is the gray wall
of the Kremlin and on the left the long
low front of the GOStiHnOi Dior, or
Great Bazaar. In the centre of the
square stands bronze monument to
Minim and Pojarski, the Russian heroes,
who, in 1910, aroused the people, ,stormed
Moscow and drove out Vladislas, of Po-
land, called to the throne by the Boyards.
The sturdy butcher of Mini Novgorod
the 9opEaahfeeRted EaheeRted wafu ~ aa9ressHRg PooiaEaslAyi
The figures are colossal and full of fire
and vigor. Hard by is a small circular
of masonry, the throne or Judgment seat
of the early Tzars.
At the southern extremity of the
square is the most astonishing structure
in appearance church or pavilion.
1t is described by Taylor as "a bewil-
dering pile, the product of some archi-
tectural kaleidoscope III which the most
incongruous things assume a certain or
der and system. 1t is not beautiful, nor
is the effect offensive, because the very
maze of colors, in which red, green and
gold predominant, attracts and caloles
the eye. The purposed incongruity of
the building is manifest in the minutest
details. This is the Cathedral of st.
Basil, built by Ivan, the Terrible, who
is said to have been so charmed with the
work that he caused the eyes of the
architect to be blinded to prevent him
ever duplicating the structure. The
cathedral is an agglomeration of towers,
no two of which are alike in either
height, shape, or in any other particular.
Some are round, some square, some hex
agonal, some octagonal; one ends IN
pyramidal spire, another in cone, and
others in bulging domes, twisted in spi-
raj bands of yellow and green like an an
cient Moslem trlrban. The interior OF
the cathedral is no less curious than the
outside. Every tower encloses chapel,
so that twelve or fifteen saints have their
shrines under one roof, yet separate.
The colossal face of Christ, the Virgin,
or the patron saint stares down from the
hollow of the capping dome. The CEN
trail tower is 100 feet high, while the dl-
ameter of the chapel inside it is scarcely
more than thirty feet at the base. Bay
ard Taylor describes this singular struc
ture as the Apotheosis of chimneys."
Passing through the Kremlin wall by
the Spass TorOta, or Gate of the Re
deemer, the most sacred confines are
reached. Over the hollow arch hangs
picture of the Savior looking with be-
nightly upon the Russians, but breathing
fire and thunder upon their foes. The
Tartars-so says tradition-were driven
back again and again from this gate by
miraculous resistance, and although the
French entered at last all their attempts
to blow it up were vain. Not even the
Emperor dare pass through the Gate of
the Redeemer without nncovering his
head. Thus is entrance effected to the
paved court of the Kremlin. Here rises
the tower of Ivan Veliki; beyond are the
Cathedral of ST. Michael, the Church of
the Assumption, and the ancient church
of the Tzars, all crowded with tiaras of
gilded domes. 0 To the right is another
cluster of da k blue domes over the
House of the Holy Synod, while the
back ground is filled up with the new
palace (Granovitaya Palata) with its
heavy French front and wings, above
which the Tartar towers of the Kremlin
wall shoot up on the left.
At the foot of the tower stands on a
granite pedestal the Tar LOlOkOL, or
Emperor of Bells, which was cast by or
der of the Empress Anne IN 1730, but
was broken some years afterwards
through the burning of the tower in
which it hung. 1t is over 21 feet in
Al 1. L