Arizona republican., 1895-01-27
THE CZAK'S TOMB.
Room for Only Few More Bodies
in tho Grea Cathedral.
Dowdy Decorations Of a Decadent School
Mar the Interior-Sarcophagi That
Mark Where the Roman
Offs Lie.

Before knowing aught of its origin
(the Cathedral of SIS. Peter and Paul.,
save that it was founded by Peter the
Great, whose modest cottage lies close
by, carefully shielded from the weather,
and whose experiences in western
Europe gave him preference for the
style of the time in which he lived, one
could vouch by merely looking at it
from the south side of the Neva, across
the stream, that it was designed by
Dutchman, writes the St. Petersburg
correspondent of the London News.
1t is devoid alike of stateliness and
race. 1t has singular spire, true
t1eche, rising from nondescript rotund
protuberance that is supported by
stucco tower But, perhaps, the most
remarkable thing about this structure
is the fact that the knob and spire were
covered, to begin with, in beaten gold
worth over four thousand one hun
dred pound sterling, which has had to
be laid out more than once, for the
spire has suffered several times from
lightning. The building itself, which
is of dull green-a washed-out eau de
Nils two hundred and ten feet long
and ninety-eight feet wide, thus differ
ing from most Russian churches, which
are in the form of a Greek, or equal
armed, cross. Within a few inches of
sixty feet high the cathedral Church
of IS. Peter and Paul strikes one as be-
ing badly prOportioned, but this evil is
abated by the space Of the high altar
behind the ikonostas, or sacred picture
screen answering to our western rood
screen, which shortens the east and
west dimensions at all times save fer a
few minutes at high mass. The in
ternal decorations are abizarre combin-
alton of Byzantine art, with that of the
worst period the most dowdy, the
1ecadence, of the renaissance, and not
even during great function can the in
side be called imposing.
Right and left outside the gre at gate
of ikonostas are six very plain white
marble sarcophagi and at the west end
are two similar rows, while the whole
of the north side and nearly the whole
Of the south side of the church are
filled with similar tombs Not that
they are real tombs. They merely
mark the spaces below where the Ro-
manoffs lie in vaults. And there is
not room for more than eight or nine
more without building mausoleum as
an annex to the church, project
which has already been mooted. If it
should be carried out we may hope in
the interest of good taste that the
Dutch style of architecture will be re-
ligiously tabooed. On the sarcophagi,
whose only structural ornament. if it
can be SO called, is a beveled edge
around the lids, are laid ormolu.
double or Byzantine crosses, and these
are scarcely visible for the wreaths of
evergreens and flowers, some new and
fresh daily for those whose memory is
still green, some dry and withered, as
BETTING what David calls "a dead man
out of mind. On the west end of
every sarcophagus is brass escuteheon
giving in the Russian language the
styles and titles Of him or her who lies
below. little rocking Of the gray-coated
soldiers who keep guard over Them
and who, capless, bear themselves as