324 



Moscnrs 



MOSCOW 



Schindler's Lift of Bttthortn ( 1841 ). See the Life 

 by his wife ( Gap. trans. 1 873), and his Correspond- 

 enoe with lUMMHata ( Kng. trans. 1888). 



osrtlUS "reek bucolic poet, usually di~ig 

 nated of Syracuse in Sicily ; lie flourished rirrn 150 

 B.C., and wrote in a style of almost painfully 

 finished elegance an epitaph on Dion, a couple of 

 short epics, and minor |>oem. His mks are 

 generally printed along with those of Theocritus 

 and Bion ; and there is a fine prose translation of 

 the three, with an introduction, by Andrew Lang 

 (1889). 



MOSCOW, formerly the capital of Russia, and 

 still venerated as sucn by the Russian peasantry, 

 stands on the little river Moskwa, a sub tributary 

 of the Volga, 403 miles by rail SE. of St Petersburg, 

 708 EXE. of Warsaw, and 967 XNE. of Odessa. 

 The city, a rude rhomboid in shape, measures 7 

 miles by 9 along its diameters, and covers some 

 40 so. in. of area. Its centre is the enclosure 

 called the Krenil or Kremlin ('Citadel'), which is 

 surrounded by walls, crowned by eighteen towers 

 and pierced by five gates. This enclosure is the 

 most sacred spot in all the vast Kussian empire. 

 The stranger equally with the native pilgrim, 

 on entering its Saviour gate ( 1491 ), must doll' his 

 cap to the holy ieon of the Saviour that sur- 

 mounts it. The most notable of the religious build- 

 ings inside the Kremlin are the cathedral of the 

 Assumption, built originally in 132(> and rebuilt in 

 1475-79; its interior is encrusted with mosaics 

 and jewelled ornaments, adorned with venerated 

 pictures, and sanctified by numerous relics of 

 sainte ; within it-* walls the early czars and all the 

 Russian nMtropaUtMtt ami patriarchs have been 

 consecrated, and the metropolitans buried. The 

 cathedral of the Archangel was originally built in 

 1333, but restored in 1505; here were buried the 

 Russian czars down to Ivan Alexievitch, brother of 

 Peter the Great. The cathedral of the Annuncia- 

 tion (1489; rebuilt 1554) was formerly the private 

 chapel of the czars ; it shelters some remarkable 

 paintings by Ru I iletr ( 1405). There are numerous 

 churches of minor rank, and several monasteries ; 

 in the VoMMMuU monastery (1393) the czarinas 

 and female relatives of the czars are buried. In 

 1600 Boris (iodnnol)' built in the Kremlin the Ivan 

 Veliki tower, 270 feet high, the summit of which 

 commands a magnificent view of Moscow, with 

 her gilded cupolas and fantastic towers, her half 

 Asiatic, half European architecture. Close by, 

 at its foot, stands the gigMttia bell, Czar Kolokol 

 ('king of bells;' see I.KI.I.I. The more important 

 secular buildings within this sanctuary of Moscow 

 are the imperial palace ( 1849) ; the palace built in 

 the reign of Ivan III. ; the new palace Orushenava, 

 which -en <-~ as a museum of the most valuable 

 Russian antiquities ; the palace of the patriarchs, 

 with archieolugical treasures and 1500 rare Russian 

 and Greek MSS. : the arsenal (1701-36), before 

 which is the trophy <>f IM-J. a pile of 800 or 900 

 French cannon ; and the Hall of the Synod, with a 

 valuable library and eocleaiological collections. 

 Outside tin- Kreml the chief objects of interest are 

 the colossal 'Temple of the Saviour '( 1838-81 ), a 

 building commemorative of 1812; the cathedral of 

 St Basil (1554), a 'nightmare in stone,' with fan- 

 tastic towers; the gigantic bazaar ((<>tinoi Dvor); 

 the historical museum : the library ( 10,000 vols. of 

 old printed hooks and 000 MSS.) of the synod and 

 ite typographical museum; the university (1766), 

 with scientific collections and a library of 170,000 

 vols. it is frequented by 3350 students ; the public 

 museum (1K6I), containing a library of 300,000 

 vols. and 5000 MSS., a first-rate ethnological 

 museum, a gallery of pictures, and scientific col- 

 lection* ; the Golitzyn Museum ( 1865), with 20,000 



vols. and a collection of paintings ; an oh-ervatory ; 

 a large foundling hospital (I7t>4); and numerous 

 monasteries and special educational institutions. 

 Moscow is celebrated for its excellent scientific 

 The suburbs of the city are thickly 



Cathedral of St Basil, Moscow. 



sprinkled with palaces, parks, and monasteries, 

 spine of the first and last being of great historic 

 significance. 



Next to St Petersburg, Moscow is the busiest 

 industrial city in the empire, manufacturing cotton 

 and woollen goods, silks, leather, tobacco, candles, 

 metallic articles, machinery, paper, chemicals, 

 bricks, carriages, pottery, and watches, all on an 

 extensive scale. But the city occupies an even 

 higher position as a commercial mart. Situated 

 nearly in the centre of European Russia, midway 

 lietwecn the Baltic, the Black Sea, and the Caspian, 

 it is one of the principal meeting-places of the 

 streams of Asiatic and European commerce. In 

 the 14th, and more especially tin- l">lh century, it 

 was of even greater importance than it is to day as 

 a commercial mart. An enormous tra<le is ifone 

 in grain, collected from the provinces and exjiorted 

 through the Baltic ports ; in timlxT, from the 

 northern governments ; in furs, hides, tallow, and 

 cattle; in the mineral products of the l'ial ic^ion ; 

 in tea, sugar, and other groceries ; in cotton, silk, 

 and woollen goods, and in all the vaiiotis manu- 

 factured wares of Russia. The Moscow custom* 

 office levies annually 6,000,000 to 7,000,000 on 

 merchandise entering the city bouml.-. Pop. (1864) 

 365,000; (1891) 822,397, nearly all (ireat Russian 

 of the Orthodox deck Church. As a general rule 

 the temperature ranges from a winter mean of 

 14 F. to a summer mean of 66, the annual mean 

 l>eing 40. 



l'ie\ious to ite settlement bv Creat Russians in 

 the 12th century, the site had been occupied by 

 Finnish races. The young state wan greatly im- 

 perilled in ite first years by the Mongols, who 

 sacked the town in 1237 and 1293. But by the 

 beginning of the 14th century its princes had 

 securc.1 their position, and began to make roni|iieata 

 and annexations on all sides. In 1325 the metro- 

 politan of central Russia moved his seat to 

 Moscow ; a few years later the principality of 



