Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-11-10
THE WINTER PALACE.
Magnihoence of the Home of the CEar of
 All the Russias.


 
 A letter to the San Francisco Chron- icle from St. Petersburg says: Scarce as money is and poor as are the mass of people. there is enough to keep up a certain style, especially iu the royal palaces and public buld.nge. Thanks to the courtesy of G. M. Hutton, the United States vice consul general, who
 was in charge of the consulate, we ob-
 tsined permission to go over the Winter
 Palace, a favor not always granted to
 strangers. IL IS a huge building of ] brown stone and covers large area, ! each of the sides Gt IS nearly square)
 measuring some 45O feet; but it IS not more than go feet high, and the heavy | cornice that forms aD almost unbroken | lire round the top stlll further detracts l from the height. Placed On this cornice is a large number of statues, which 1t
 requires no great stretch of imagina-
 tion to conceive to be persons epdeavor- ing to escape from destruction by way
 of the roof, so jumbled up are they with
 the chiuneys. The general effect of the building, which only dates from 1859, would be poor were 1t not for its siz7, which, to some extent, makes up for
 
 interior is also devoid of any speclal ar | ehitectural festIres, aad there D no l grand staircase. It iB simply a huge | square box, divided up into rooms, but | some Of these are truly magnificent, and | when filled with the flower of Russian | society, az they are at state receptions | during the winter SC isOn, must look | grand indeed. Peters throne-Toom. with silver chandeliers, red tinted walls, | and highly decorated dome; union hall, with gllded columns; the thr0ne-Toom, with its massive marble pillars and gold chandeliers. and the plate room with crystal chandeliers, and trophies of gold and silver plate against the walls and stands sloping up to the very ceiling, are all imperial apartments in every sense. The succession of reception rooms and corridors is also m"st impos- ing, although the paintings Of battle scenes, where carnage and rapine are de- picted ID all their horrors with a monot- ony that becomes almost nauseating, seems to be hardly adapted for the exclusive adornment Of rooms intended for gay assemblageF, and they must form n gha-tly contrast to bright toilets md Rlittering jewels, and fair wonanly forms.
 The visitor is escorted through hall after hall decorat sd with almost barbaric magni1cence, and at each one IS taken Inder the charge of fresh attendant, 'ttired in a goryeo is imperial livery. The pal1ce, which at present is quite un- Occupied-as the emperor resides at Rn- other palace some distance up the NeRsk prosgect-fai1ly swarms with servants, who are all well dressed and courteous and extremely idle, having apparently nothing on earth to do except to stand or walk about in the empty apartments which are seldom trOdden by any other feet. Here and there IS to seen superior officer, in full uniform. evidently ID charge of some part of the building, and at one point We suddenly came upon two COssRck sentinel,, armed to the teeth aud standing notion ess on each side Df the doorway. Pms | was the entrance to the room containing the crown jewels. Our attendant lnserte Q key, two heavy iron ioors swung open and we were ushered in. The room was almost bare, with the exception of some glass topped eases, 'uch as are used at museums for manu- 4cripts and objects of interest, which stood near the walls, and two central 1 stands, but when the cloths which GOV cred them were removed the sight was dazzling. In the side cases was a cOllec- ton o. tiaras and sig cites and pend | ants, i i1 brillisnts and rubies and pearls. The central stands bore the crown -ega- 5t'' uiAAs,ff77s 0i T5Sy' y''TiQXD4a hDge, ,rQass mo lnted by an extraordinary uncut ruoy; the empress crown, somewhat smaller, if possible more brilliant, and the scepter, bearing on it's top the cele- bra.ed Lazar0tf diamond, of which the s orv is told that 1t was stolen from an Indian temple, and carried of con- cealed in cut in the leg of it's pur- Joiner. Compared with these Muscov- ite gems all others that l have ever looked on are dull and small One thing m the picture-g gallery of the palace was remarkable, and that is the absence of peculiarly Rpssisn worthies whose portraits cove ed the walls. There were fac oi strictly EIglisL type, Swedish fac as in small number. and German faces in auy quantity, but Russian faces none. and no one could guess that he was surrounded by the hkenesses of the men by whO m the great northern power had been built up. It is very much the same to-day. The leading men here are quite different ID appearance from the
 mass of the people, SO different that they might well belong to another race They have, many of them, fine features and noble forms.