The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-22

and give an education to every chile
 in the Empire. The Czar has twenty
 one city and country palaces--all o
 them sumpthously furnished and filled
 with costly plate and ornaments-bu the palace of the Kremlin surpassed ] them all for the richness, value ant
 unioueness of it's treasures. The pal
 ace Of the Holy Synod, which Is ths 1 official residence of the Metropolitan 1 of the Orthodox Greek Church. con tains sacred treasures of similar val | ue. The collection of pontifioal robes
 dates back to the tenth and eleventh
 centuries. and they are ornamented
 with rare and valuable jewels. The l diamond in the miter of a metropolitan
 who lived in the fifteenth century Is
 valued at s250,00o and in another is what is claimed to be the finest sap- phire In the world valued at $100,- 600. The priest who showed these things to me few years ago told me In naive way that he did not be- heve there was money enough in all the universe to duplicate the jewels which were spread before our eyes and that 1t would be impossible to duplicate them even if there were money enough to pay the bill. He showed mo a ring set with a cameo head of the Prophet Daniel, which he assured us. was made for King BeIshazzar. and an alabaster vase said to contain the ointment that remained after Mary had bathed the feet of the Savior. That is the chrism brought from Con- stantinopie after the division of the Christian Church, and from it is talk en the oil with which the Czars are anointed- One drop sused at the coronation of each Czar, and no more; and 1t is replaced with an equal quani- ty of oil, so that the precious ointi ment never grows less.
 In ancient times 1t was customary for ths Czars to Atone for their sins and .excesses by making valuable gifts to the Church, and most os them have been retained and can be seen in the collection of the Holy Synod. Ivan the Terrible. after he beat his son to death, presented the Metropolitan at Moscow With robe that carries fifty-four pounds of precious stones. Other Czars have given similar gifts. and they have frequently received pre- seuts of enormous value from other Sovereisns. Many of them are Jeposi- ted in the Treasury, which stands on The opposite side of the court from the Holy Synod. and is a sort of historical museum containing a chronicle of the Empire for a thousand years. writ ten In crowns thrones and arms.
 The guidebook says that the jewels and the silver and gold, the accumu- latton of ten centuries of barbaric splendor and conquest, represent an 1. actual value of $500, ,0OO, GOO. Skeptics howovr. declare that this is a great exaggeFation; that their historical treasures have already been footed {; that while the silver and gold is gen. uine. most of the original jewels have been ssplaced with bogus ones, and many more are practically worthless, because ot flaws and other defects Nevertheless, there is no such accu- mutation anywhere else. The Sultan Of Turkey has salad bowls filled with oiamonds, rubies, pearls and other precious stones in the treasury of the seraglto in StambouII a jeweled throne that Is worth millions of dollars, and swords and ornaments that blaze with diamonds. But the Treasury of the
 lSremlin contains many times that wealth in discarded crowns, thrones, the coronation robes of all the Czars. the seepters they have yielded, the crowns and thrones and scepters of eonquered kings they have brought to Moscow as the spells of war, and the Jewels, the robes, the gold and silver plate Of dozens of despoiled palaces. A catalogue Of all these treasurers would i'll this newspaper. The building is as large as the Treasury at Washing ton. and contains nothing else.
 Tn the first room is the finest col E3eetion of arnor ever gathered to- gether, more interesting and valuable for Its antiquity and it's associations than for its splendor. In the next room is collection of more than thir- ty captured thrones, each with a his- tory. It includes that of Constantine the Great. a sacred relic brought from Constantinople. It is perhaps the onfy one that came honestly there. The l ancient throne of Poland, which was brought from Warsaw in 1883, when that Kingdom was made a part of the Russian Empire, stands beside it, sug- gesting striking contrast. There are
 three thrones upon which different suitans of Turkey have sat, all of l them captured in war, and a long row of the thrones of old Asiatic princes which conquest has made vassals to the Cars. The throne of the ancient | Mongols, of the golden horde that | oyerran Russia, stands beside a gor. geous ivory chair blazing with dia. monds in which the Shah of Persia once sat.
 The next room contains the corona
 tion robes of twelve of the sovereigns Of Russia, Including that of Ivan the Terrible, of which I have spoken, and l that of Catherine the Great, which is so loaded with gems, gold. silver and lace that 1t required twelve chamber. | lainS to carry the train. Each Czal and Czarina for 200 years is repre-. sented here. Those of the present sovereigns. are the simplest of the entire collection, having been woven In beautiful broaded designs of gold and silver bullion thread in the city of Moscow in 1894. They bear nc Jewels but are said to have cost S1OO,. OOO. Every ornament and every stitch
 of clothing worn by the Csarina Aliz at her coronation Is preserved in a great case of plate glass upon a life. sized manikin.
 In the next room is an assemblage l of crowns, most of them coming from the countries where the thrones were stolen. The remainder were worn by the Czars-"crowns upon crowns oceans of pearls and rivers of dia. monds," as one writer has expressed 1t. The costliest crown Is that made by the order of Peter the Great ir | 1889 for the Swedish peasant Eir
 who became the Empress Catherine ]. It contains 2,5S6 diamonds, with one of the largest and finest rubie,
 known as It's crest. Besides 1t is tho double crown of Peter the Great and his half-witted brother, and the dou' ble throne on which they sat, witt
 chair hidden behind drapery for theii
 sister Sophia, who used to prompt them what to do and say on occasions l of ceremony. There are ninteer 1 crowns and seventeen thrones.
 In the second story of the Treas
 ury is an immense collection of golt
 and silver plate--the most extensive