Part 6 (2/2)
We will read about them by and by,” said Cousin Giles
As they stood there, on their right side were the walls of the Kremlin, on their left the front of the bazaar, while so church, the Cathedral of Saint Basil It has nine doht round it, each one painted of a different colour, with various ornaments; soreen, while the structure on which these domes stand consists of all sorts of ins and outs; s, and stairs, and pillars, and arches--all, too, of different colours, green, and yellow, and red predo Harry looked at it for a hter
”Well, that is the funniest building I ever saw,” he exclaimed ”It looks as if it was built up of sentry-boxes, and Hanso-sties, and all sorts of other things
It was built, I see, by Ivan the Cruel, and it is said that he was so pleased with its strangeness that he put out the eyes of the unfortunate architect, to prevent his ever building another like it”
”Pleasant gentlereen ”A neay he took to reward merit”
”Rather an old way,” said Cousin Giles ”I do not think that any sovereign would venture on such a proceeding now-a-days”
Putting off their visit to the bizarre little cathedral, they turned to the right through the Sacred Gate Mr Evergreen did not observe that every one passing under it took off his hat, and very nearly got a prod frolect of that cereateas unscorched by fire, and that the la all the time the French were in occupation of the city, untriih, and it was curious to observe each man in succession doff his cap and cross hih and low, rich and poor, all do the salected the duty were so, dark-eyed lads, whose marked features and olive coipsies, of whoreat number are found in Russia Moscow is said, like Rome, to stand on seven hills, of which that occupied by the Krehest It is not, however, as much as a hundred feet above the Moscohich flows in a horseshoe form directly to the south of it It is enclosed by four walls of irregular length--that at the west end being so short that the space it occupies is alhteen towers, which vary in shape and height, though they all have high-pointed roofs covered with green tiles Outside the walls are gardens with grass, and trees, and gravel walks In the interior, on the south side, is athe river, and the strange jus which coround is occupied with a collection of churches of all shapes and sizes and colours, and towers, and convents, and palaces One palace, however, surpasses the white walls and richly-carved facade and general bran-new appearance look sadly out of place arotesque, many-coloured, odd-shaped, Byzantine edifices which are dotted about in its neighbourhood It looks like soe intruder into the place, which all the old inhabitants are collecting to put forth again; or like an emu in a poultry-yard, at which all the parti-coloured cocks and hens and ducks are crowing, and cackling, and quacking, in a vain endeavour to frighten him out It required more than one visit to the spot before our friends could learn the geography of the place, and distinguish the nuhts, and shapes, and varieties of outside and inside adornment The chief, called the Cathedral, has its walls painted with subjects taken from Scripture, which to the purer taste of Protestants appear shocking and blasphemous However, our travellers did not then attend to the details of the strange occupants of the Kremlin Their object was to obtain a coaunt old monster, the Tower of Ivan Veleki They first, however, exae bell which stands on a pedestal at its foot This bell was once suspended on the top of a tohich was burnt, and the bell in its fall had a little piece broken out of it When they got up to it, they found that this little piece was far too heavy for any ten h for a h
The door of the old toas open, and they ht of circular steps towards the suht, they passed through a door into another tohere there hung a peal of huge bells,--one ave forth a wondrously musical sound
”I should not like to be near that fellohile he was ringing,” cried Harry; ”he would h to deafen a rhinoceros”
They did not stop to hear those fah above all the surrounding edifices As they gazed forth from the narrow stone balcony which ran round the do on every side a sea of spires, domes, cupolas, minarets, towers, and roofs of every conceivable colour, shape, and size, not altogether unlike a vast garden filled with brobdignagian tulips, but with more hues than any tulip bed ever possessed; and, in addition to the many-coloured tints of the rainbow, there appeared nu brightly in the sun
Cousin Giles first ascertained their position by his co to the north, they observed in that direction fewer churches, but numerous villas and lines of wood, with the arid steppe beyond them To the south-west arose the Sparrow Hills, those celebrated heights whence Napoleon and his then victorious aric city which they deemed was soon to be the reward of all their toils, but yet which, ere many days had passed, was to prove the cause of their destruction In the sa doards the city, to circle round a portion of it under the walls of the Krele to the east To the south, on a plain near the banks of the river, rose high above other buildings the red towers and walls of the Donskoy Convent, several other convents, carefully painted of different colours, being scattered about
”The birds which have their nests there can have no fear oftheir proper abodes on their return froenerally formed quaint notions on what he saw
Directly below theold, and black, and blue, and green doreen pointed towers, its wide gravelled esplanade, the roofs of its vast palaces and public buildings, its belt of turreted walls and gardens with their green lawns and shade-giving trees; but stranger still was the city itself, with its thousands of coloured cupolas, turrets, doeness olden stars and golden chains hanging froolden crosses which surmounted them There were soe reen and gold; some were black, and others shone like burnished steel; sohtest blue, scarcely to be distinguished from the tint of the azure expanse aolden ball and cross and glittering chains above their sureen stripes, and soht yellow, and pale yellow, and red; and soantic crowns, open and outspreading, as well as globe-like The roofs and walls also exhibited a strange difference in their tints, though green, and red, and black, and grey, and brown predo the first; while the latter hite, and buff, and green, and blue, and deep red, and pink Truly it was a strange scene, such as they had never before beheld, and could scarcely hope to behold elsewhere
They returned to the top of the tower again in the evening, just as the setting sun was throwing his glory giving rays across this richly-jewelled expanse, which shone forth in a perfect blaze of light, coloured by every hue of which the rainbow can boast
It is difficult to iine the vast nue city There are said to be a thousand churches, though probably there are not so many Few of these churches have less than five domes, and some have ten Each tower also has a doe proportion of these doold, and some with sheets of silver; the others are either black and white, or of the various hues already described Moscow may, indeed, most properly be called the Golden City The only rule which the church architect here appears to observe is, to endeavour to make every new church as dissi in the city, in colour, shape, and size; yet they all evidently belong to the saether the venerable Kres it contains, with the mass of coloured edifices which surround it, forest architectural jumbles in the universe
CHAPTER EIGHT
Visit to the Imperial Palace in the Kremlin--The Granovitaya
Palata--The Terema, or Ancient Palace of the Czars--Cathedral of Uspensky Sabor--Rarity of Good Paintings in the Russian Churches-- Public Discussions on Religion--Traps for the Unwary--Procession of Russian Monks--New Church of Saint Saviour--Preparations for the Coronation--Cathedral of Saint Basil--Sealing up Doors of Shops at Night--Shop to Saints--Bazaar--Chinese City--Russian Vehicles
Our friends got a good general idea of the city during the first day of their residence in it The next day they obtained tickets of adentleman to whom Cousin Giles had letters They were accompanied in their visit by some French friends of his They were first shown the private rooms of the Emperor and Empress, which had just been refurnished for their reception after the coronation All these rooe square pillar, supporting the storey above
These pillars, with several screens and curtains in each room, made them appear small and positively cosy, such asto any lady or gentlelish people would probably have chosen a round floor; but from the lowness of these roo vaulted they are cooler in suuide conducted theh several fine halls, sie at Saint Petersburg, and along galleries filled with pictures of very doubtfulin the new palace they walked into one of the old palaces called the Granovitaya Palata The second floor is occupied entirely by the coronation hall of the E on a huge square pillar in the centre Here the Emperor, clothed in royal robes, for the first time after his coronation, sits in state, surrounded by his nobles, eating his dinner
”Ah, I see emperors have to eat like other people,” observed Harry when he was told this ”I wonder, nohat the new Emperor will have for dinner”
By far thein the Kremlin is the ancient palace of the Czars, called the Terema It is co-rooe modern edifice by its side The walls froe arabesque devices which in--birds, beasts, and fish, interwoven with leaves and sea-weed of every description In each rooh the sahout, and the sareen room, the blue room, and the yellow room, and many other coloured roos, and cornices are great wooden heads of beasts--lions, or tigers, orthe stoves are of curiously coloured tiles; indeed, the whole building is a e place, a perfect speci it is soh equally wonderful, it is barbarous in the extreme compared to that celebrated edifice of Southern Spain Our travellers clie little palace, and went out on the roof, whence they looked down on a whole olden and coloured do to the smallest and most ancient church in the Kremlin In the Granovitaya Palata is a , at which the Emperor shows himself on state occasions to the troops, drawn up on the parade It is one of the s of the Hall of Justice, and here suppliants used to be drawn up in a basket, to present their petitions and to hear judgment pronounced