Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-28
KREM ms WEALTH
Nowhere Are Such Treasures
to Be Found.
LOOT FOR THE MOB
PRECIOUS METALS AND vALU-
ABLE JEWELS AND GEMS.
A Room Full Of Costly Crowns-Gold
and Silver Plate-Gifts From
and to the Cars.
LOOT FOR THE MOB
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

| Written for The Evening Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.
| If mob should secure control of the city
| of Moscow it would undoubtedly loot the
| Kremlin, that ancient and imposing citadel
| of the Russian cars, within whose treasury
| is a collection of gold. silver and precious
| stones of enormous value.
| The Krenlin is enormous fortress, and
| for a thousand years has sheltered the
| throne and the treasures of the Russian
| empire. 1t is what the Acropolis is to
| Athens, the Alhambra to Spain, Windsor
Castle to London, and the Vatican to Rome.
1t stands upon an eminence. city within a
city, washed on three sides by the River
| Volga and inclosed by wall nearly mile
| and a half long The Kremlin is not only
| the legal capital of the empire, the location
| of the throne and the residence of the car,
but is also the headquarters of the Ortho-
dox Greek Church The walls inclose
large group of buildings consisting of the
ancient palace of the czars, the palace OF
/ the holy synod the Church of the Assump-
| ton in which the autOcratS of all the RuS-
| sias must be crowned the Church of the
| Annuneiato in which they must be pap
| tized and married, and the Church OIL 81.
| Michael, in which their imperial bones un-
| til the last century, were laid. There are
| two monasteries two barracks capable OF
| sheltering 5000 soldiers, monument erect
| ed in honor of Alexander II, the Emancl-
pator; the great bell of MOSCOW ana the
| tower of Ivan which you saw pictured IN
| the geograph plies when you We're child, ana
| the treasury, in which the thrones, crowns
| scepters, coronation robes state carriages.
| table plate jeweled ornaments and other
reljcs of the house of Romanoff are pre-
served According to an ancient custom
every ruler of Russia until recent years mas
had his own crown and throne and scepter,
and each has endeavored to surpass MS
| in
Palace in the Kremlin.
| AS you know, Moscow, instead OF St re-
| tersburg is the capital of Russia, put the
court resides in the latter place for reasons
of convenience. The palace in the Kremlin
| is always kept in readiness for its imperial
tenant, and he spends a few weeks there at
intervals each, year, in order to crafty the
| Ioyal subjects in the holy city-"Our Mother
Moscow" In some respects it is the nnest
| residence of all the soverelgns or Europe
not so immense as the Winter Palace at
| Petersburg, but richer and more majestic,
and some of the rooms, notably the nails
| of the Order of st. George, the order OF 81.
Alexander Nevski and the Orders OF 81.
| Andrew and st. Catherine, are, without
| doubt the finest in the world. The hrst
| named is 200 feet long and 6S feet wide,
| and the ceiling is 5S feet from the floor
| These rooms are seldom used except at
| funeral a coronation. There are nu-
| merous other state apartments, finished and
] furnished with barbaric splendor five and
| six hundred years ago, much gold and sill
| yer and many precious stones having been
used. Gold was once so plentiful in Russia
that it was spread over the walls of pal
| aces; jewels were so numerous that they
/ were inbedded as ornaments in DOORS
| mantels chandeliers, stoves and furniture
| while silver used we use wood for
| tables, picture frames, balustrades, chande-
| lers. cabinets and thrones.
| The throne of Ivan the Terrible, for ex-
| ample Is made of solid silver, ornamented
with gold and thickly studded with gems
| His robe of state, which is still on exhibit
| ton, was described by writer of the fif-
teenth century as seeming to be one sheet
| of diamonds while his neck-collar, the
bands of his sleeves and the train that he
| drew behind him were within of sable and
| without of uniform pearls, like large drops
| of water, of the pufest Wilderness, each
| being of the value of a male slave" This
| mantle can be seen any day between the
! hours of 10 and in the treasury, and the
ancient writer did not eXaggerate it's rich
ness.
Wealth of the Kremlin.
According to popular opinion there Is in
| the Kremlin enough useless treasure to pay
the public debt of Russia; and in the
| churches and palaces enough gold and jew
els to build school house in every village
and give an education to every child in the
| empire. The car has twenty-one city and
| country palaces-all of them sumptuously
| ornaments-but the palace of the Kremlin
surpasses them all for the richness, value
| and uniqueness of its treasures. The pal
ace of the holy synod which is the official
| residence of the metropolitan of the Or
| thodox Greek Church, contains sacred
| treasures of similar value. The collection
| of pontificial robes dates back to the tenth
and eleventh centuries, and they are orna
/ mented with rare and valuable Jewels One
| diamond in the mitre of metropolitan who
lived In the fifteenth century is valued at
| $4,000, and in another is what is claimed
| to be the finest sapphire in the world, val
1 ued at 100000.
| The priest who showed these things to
| me few years ago told me in naive way
| that he did not believe there was money
enough in all the universe to replace the
| jewels which were spread before our eyes,
| and that 1t would be impossible to dupli-
cate them even If there were money enough
| TO pay the BILL He showed us ring set
| with cameo head of the Prophet Daniel,
/ which, he assured us, was made for King
Belshazzar, 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 Constan-
| tinople after the division of the Christian
1 which the czars are anointed. One drop is
used at the coronation of each car and
no more; and it is replaced with an equal
| quantity of oil, so that the precious ONT
| ment never grows less.
| Gifts Of the Cars
In ancient times it was customary for the
czars to atone for their sins and excuses
by making gifts to the church, and most
OF them have been retained and can be
seen in the collection of the holy synod
Ivan the Terrible, after he beat his son
1 to death, presented the metropolitan at
Moscow with robe that carries f1fty-four
pounds of precious stones. Other czars
have given similar gifts and they have
frequently received presents Of enormous
value from other sovereigns. Many OF
| them are deposited in the treasury which
stands on the opposite side Of the court
from the holy synod. and is a sort of his
1 torical museum containing a chronicle of
the empire for a Thousand years, written
| in crowns. thrones and arms
| The guide book says that the Jewels and
/ the silver and gold, the accumulation of
| ten centuries of barbaric splendor and con-
quest, represents an actual value of $780,
i c000o0 Skepties, however declare that
l this Is great exaggeration: that. while the