The Ordway new era., 1914-05-22
WOULD BE PRICELESS
ARcHAEoLoaIsTs HOPE TO FIND
LIBRARY OF RUSSIAN CAR.
Possibility That the Wonderful coIIse-
tIon Made by Ivan the Terrible
May fsot Have Been Destroyed
In the Great Fire Of 1912.

ehSOAo6y 80 sAV 4AANSAoAty - ~ . y
ersburg, Russia, purchased at = shop
IN Moscow a manuscript copy Of the
Gospels dating from prior to A. D.
900. On examination 1t was found to
have belonged to the great library col
ected in his youth by Ivan the Terri
ole. when he believed that he had
divine mission. This library was sup
osed to have been burned in the
treat fire OF Moscow Of 1872.
On subsequent visit to Moscow the
professor traced his book to the fam
ly OF laborer. who said that he had
'ound 1t with several similar volumes
.lremlin.
The famous library Of Ivan the Ter
'r:ble is now supposed to be still hid
len in some underground vault. which
he efforts OF generations have hither-
o failed to discover 1t was Ivan the
.erribie-whose reputation as great
ruler has been obscured by the fas-
,ination Of his extraordinary excesses
who established the printing press
Russia.
There is wide field of conjecture
is TO what might not come to light In
he event Of this curious library one
lay being discovered. Ivan the Terri
>'e was in close communication with
II the ruleys of our hemisphere. from
london to Picking; one branch OF
knowledge is almost certain to be well
-spresented in this lost library. and
lat is The scence of black magic. II
equally likely that new codices of
ioiy Scripture may yet come to light.
or Ivan the Terrible undertook to
'rint the Scriptures in the vulgar
ongue. Only one thing is certain.
hat such a library existed and has
never been found. nor is it even known
o have per;shed in any of the numer-
,us fires that devastated Moscow.
references in the archives to its ex-
stence, as well as to the existence of
he subterranean roadways, are sufli-
,ient to whet the keenest curiosity.
but not enough to afford much practi-
,al assistance to the investigator.
Apart from changes Of surface feat
Tres in the Kremlin, the level of the
soil is six or eight feet above what 1t
vas in the sixteenth century. 1t is no
lcubt the knowledge, an unpleasantly
vague knowledge, of the existence OF
these underground passages which
,auses the police on every occasion OF
an imperial visit to Moscow to seal up
with wire and lead seal every single
opening, cellar shoot, surface drainage
grid, to be found anywhere over the
,rea of the Kremlin, and frequently to
inspect the integrity of these seals.
Legends of a labyrinth of under
ground passages have been current
among the populace for centuries, but
1t Is only within the last decade or SC
that the very extensive building enter
prise on modern lines undertaken in
Russias premier capital" has given
substance to these ancient legends.
| When the main drainage scheme had
been in operation a few years the al.
teration Of subsoil conditions caused
| sinking Of the foundations of many
Of the more massive public buildings,
which had to be underpinned, while
new erections required much deeper
excavation in order that secure
foundation might be reached. 1t was
in course of these operations that
many underground passages came to
light. and eventually the newly fiedged
societies interested in the preserva.
ton OF monuments of antiquity at
tempted to deal with the matter from
the historical standpoint
1