Durango semi-weekly herald., 1905-02-02

and excesses by making valuable
gifts to the church. and most of tnem
have been retained and can be seen
in the collection of the holy synod.
Ivan the Terrible, after ne beat his son
to death. presented the Metropolitan
at Moscow with II robe that carries
hfty-four pounds of precious stones
Other czars have given similar gifts,
and they have frequently received
presents OF enormous value from 9TH
er sovereigns Many of them are de
posted In the treasury. which stands
on the opposite side of the court from
| the holy synod. and is a sort of a his
torical museum containing chron-
| icle OF the empire for n thousand
years. written in crowns, thrones and
arms
The giiidebook says That the Jewels
and the silver and gold. the accumula-
ton of ten centuries of barbaric splen-
dor and conquest, represent an actual
value of s600,000,00O Skeptics. how
ever. declare that this is great ex-
! nggeration; that their historical
treasures have already been looted;
that while the silver and gold are gen
| uine. most Of the original jewels have
been replaced with bogus ones. and
many are practically worthless be-
| cause of flaws and other defects New
ertheless. there is no such accImula-
| tion anywhere else The sultan of
Turkey mas salad bowls filled with
| diamonds, rubies. pearls and other
| precious stones in the treasury of the
seragiio in Stamboul, ieweled throne
that is worth millions of dollars, and
swords and ornaments that blaze
with diamonds But the treasury of
the kremlin contains many times that
wealth in discarded crowns thrones.
the coronation robes OF all the czars.
the sceDters they have welded. the
crowns and thrones and scepters of
conquered kings they have brought to
Moscow as the spoils of war and the
jewels, the robes, the gold and silver
plate of dozens of despoiled palaces.
A catalogue of all these treasures
would fill this Newspaper. The build
ing is as large as the treasury at
Washington. and contains nothing
else
In the first room Is the finest collec-
ton of armor ever gathered together,
more interesting and valuable for it's
antiquity and its associations than
its splendor. In the next room is
more than thirty captured thrones,
each with history. II includes that
of Constantine the Great. "a sacred
redic brought from Constantinople.
1t Is perhaps the only one that came
honestly there. The ancient throne
of Poland. which was brought from
Warsaw in 1888, when that kingdom
was made a part OF the Russian em-
pire. stands beside it, suggesting
striking contrast. There are three
thrones upon which different sultans
OF Turkey have sat, all of them cap
tured in war and a long row of
thrones of old Asiatic princes. which
conquest has made vassals to the
czars. The throne of the ancient
Mongols Of the golden horde that
overran Russia, stands beside 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 | have spoken, and
that of Catherine the Great. which is
so loaded with gems, gold, silver and
lace that ii required twelve chamber
| lains to carry the train. Each czar
| and czarina for 200 years is repro
| sented here. Those of the present SOW
| ereigns are the simplest of the entire
| collection, having been woven in beau
| tifu brocajed design of gold and sill
yer bullion thread in the city of Mos
| COW in 1894. They bear no Jewels,
|
cry ornament and every stitch Of
clothing worn by the CZarina Alix
at her coronation, from her slippers
to her hairpins, is preserved in a
great case Of plate glass upon life
sized manikin.
In the next room is an assemblage
OF crowns. most of them coming from
the countries where the thrones were
stolen. The remainder were worn by
czars-"crowns upon crowns, oceans
of pearls and rivers of diamonds" as
one writer has expressed 1t. The cost
liest crown is that made by the order
OF Peter the Great in 1859 for. the
Swedish peasant girl who became the
Empress Catherine l. 1t contains
2.536 diamonds. with one of the larg-
est and finest rubies known as its
crest. Besides it is the double crown
of Peter the Great and his half-witted
brother, and the double throne on