﻿88t 



MOSCOW. 



MOSCOW. 



870 



mannfacturcs comprise wooUen-clotb, hats, silk, leather, chintz and 

 calico, linen, cotton, paper, china, earthenware, &c. ; steam-engines 

 and steam-machinery are used to a great extent in the cloth, cotton, 

 and silk factories. There are many distilleries and breweries, and 

 numerous small manufactories ; in fact almost every family in the 

 country has some kind of manufacture. 



The province has a very extensive inland trade ; Moscow, from its 

 wealth and industry, being necessarily one of the greatest emporia 

 in the interior of Russia. Moscow may indeed be called the centre 

 of the internal trade of Bussia, as St Petersburg ia of its maritime 

 commerce. 



Other towns of this province, are — Kolomna, at the junction of the 

 river Kolomenka with the Moskwa, and a little above the junction 

 of the latter with the Oka. The town, which is divided by the Kolo- 

 menka into two parts, contains 17 churches, an ecclesiastical seminar]^ 

 and a population of 10,200 inhabitants, who have manufactures of 

 silk, 'cotton, linen, woollen-cloths, and leather. There are several 

 tanneries, and malt and brick kilns ; above 400,000 poods (36 lbs. each) 

 of tallow are annually melted here. The inhabitants have a very 

 extensive trade in tallow, hides, leather, com, hemp, oil, hops, and 

 fruits from the Ukraine, nil of which find their way to Moscow ; and 

 they supply the neighbouring country with colonial produce, wines, 

 and manufactures. The fairs are much frequented. 

 , Serpuchow, on the rivers Nara and Oka, over the latter of which 

 there is a bridge of boat*. The citadel, on an eminence, is surrounded 

 by a high wall, now fallen into decay; the town has 16 churches, a 

 lazaretto, and other public buildings, and 6000 inhabitants, who have 

 manufactures of sailcloth, woollens, leather, and paper. They have 

 a good trade in com, cattle, tallow, hemp, linen, and timber, which 

 go partly to St. Petersburg and partly to Moscow. There are 

 two fairs. 



Wereja, on both sides of the Protwa, a feeder of the Oka, which 

 CToas«s the south-west of the government. The Protwa is crossed by 

 a wooden bridge. The inhabitants of the town, 6000 la number, 

 have a brisk export trade with Moscow, St. Petersbtitg, Riga, and 

 Kiinigsberg. 



Motalti, near the right bank of the Moskwa, in the west of the 

 government, and a little east of the village of Borodino, has 4000 

 inhabitants. The bloody victories obtained by Napoleon I, over the 

 Russians on September 6th and 7th, and called respectively by the 

 French the victories of Borodino and the Moskwa, were fought near 

 this town. After the terrible battle of the 7th, Marshal Ney was 

 saluted by Napoleon — Prince de la Moskwa, and the French marched 

 straight to the city of Moscow. 



SmUrow, in the north-east of the govermnent, on the Sestria, has 

 8000 inhabitants. 



The common roads are excellent. A railway from Moscow to St. 

 Petersburg unites the two capitals of the empire. The navigation of 

 the Oka and the Moskwa is a great advantage to this province. 



The inhabitants are all of Russian origin ; in the city of Moscow 

 itself indeed there are not only persons from all parts of the Russian 

 empire, but strangers from the remotest countries of Asia and Europe. 

 The Russians are of the Qreek religion, of which there are in this 

 province above 1300 churches, nnder the archbishop of Moscow. 

 The Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists have churchea in 

 Moscow. 



MOSCOW (in Russian, Modcva), formerly the capital of the Russian 

 empire, till Peter the Oreat in 1703 made St. Petersburg the seat of 

 government, seems to have been founded about a.d. 1147, by the 

 Urand-duke Yury II., or George, sumamed Uolgoruoky, or Long- 

 Hand. It was taken and plundered by Tamerlane in the reign of 

 Basil II., and subsequently it was sacked by the Tartars. In 1536 it 

 was nearly destroyed by afire; again ia 1671 the Tartars fired the 

 (uburfaa, the conflagration spread to the city, a great part of which 

 was reduced to ashes, and about 100,000 persons perished by fire or 

 sword. In 1611 it was taken by the Poles, and a great part of it was 

 destroyed by fire. Lastly in 1812 the inhabitants set fire to their 

 city, after it had been entered by the French under Napoleon L It 

 has been since rebuilt with little change, except that individual houses 

 are in better taste than in the old city, and gardens are more frequent. 



Mtycow is situated in 66" 46' 46 " N. lat, 37° 83' 8" E. long., in a 

 fertile and richly cultivated country on the banks of the river Moskwa 

 (pronounced Moskva) and of the rivulets Jausa and Neglina (or 

 Neglinniiya), the latter of which is in fact only a brook. The form 

 of the city ia a sort of irregular rhomboid, and its girding rampart is 

 about 264 miles long. In the inclosed space however there is a great 

 number of gardens, besides many fields or parks which are used for 

 promenades, for holding festivals, and for exercising troops; there 

 are likewise 263 ponds or small lakes, on the banks of some of which 

 there are public walks and fine gardens laid oat with much taste, 

 and inclosed by walls. 



The central part of Moscow, containing the Kremlin and its 

 gardens, cast of which ia the cathedral of St. Basil and the Kitai- 

 Ooro<l, or CliiiifBe Town, lies north of the Moskwa, and is surrounded 

 by tlio r..I./ii iiirixl, or White Town. Round the BeloiOorod nms the 

 inner boulevard, nearly, circular in shape, with its two ends resting on 

 the river and with a radiunof about a mile. The Zemlianoi-Gorod incloses 

 the preceding parts on the north side of the river, but extends to the 



south side, so as to fill up the circle, and is inclosed by a wide circular 

 boulevard concentric with the one just mentioned. Between this 

 exterior boulevard and the ramparts of the city are the Sloboiii, or 

 suburbs, which are 35 in number. The finest of the gates of Moscow 

 is the St. Petersburg Gate at the north-west angle of the city, con- 

 sisting of three arches — a central ona of large dimensioua spanning 

 the wide carriage-road, and two smaller ones over the footway. Tho 

 panels are adorned with only a few imperial eagles in bas-reKef ; on 

 the summit is a colossal figure of Victory in a car drawn by eight 

 furious coursers. 



The Moskwa crosses the lino of the western wall of the city a little 

 north of the Warsaw Road in an eastern direction, and immediately 

 turning first south and then south-west, again crosses the raiupart 

 near the Devitchei Convent. After winding round to the south aud 

 east alung the base of the Sparrow Hills to the south-west of tho city 

 (whence the French obtained their first view of Moscow), the river 

 again enters within the ramparts at the south-western angle uear the 

 Kaluga Road, aud flowing north-east between the Empress's villa 

 and gardens on the east, tho Devitchei Convent and vast Imrracks ou 

 the we.-t, it crosses the exterior boulevards which separate the city 

 from the suburbs. From one extremity of the interior boulevard to 

 the other the river flows eastwanl along the southern base of the hill 

 on which the Kremlin ia built, aud then turning nearly south it 

 crosses the ramparts for the hist time at the south-eastern angle ; the 

 convent of St. Saviour's, the vast powder magazine, and the Semi- 

 novskoi Convent lying between its left bank aud the eastern wall. 

 The small river Jausa enters the city on the north-east, and joins the 

 Moskwa at the eastern extremity of the iimer boulevard after passing 

 the hospital of St. Catharine, the palace of the Empress Elizabeth, 

 the Imperial Palace, the summer gardens, the new and old military 

 hospitals, and the military school. 



The view of Moscow at a distance has excited the admiration of all 

 travellers. The countless number of towers, some with cupolas either 

 gilt or painted green, and others rising in tho form of minarets, and 

 the many gardens and trees intermixed with the houses, give the city 

 quite an oriental appearance. The number of towers in Moscow is 

 very great, nearly every church having several besides the steeple. 

 The churches have in general a peculiar appearance, being surmounted 

 by several cupolas or small domes, which are painted or gilt and 

 bespangled with stars ; on the top is a crescent, with the cross abovo 

 it With a general similarity of appearance, the forms of tho towers 

 vary considerably, striking the eye by the irregularity of their forma 

 and their gay diversity of colours. It is to those towerain particular 

 that JIoscuw owes its remarkable appearance. They are all of stone, 

 and most of them situated in open squares, in consequence of which 

 they escaped tho fire of 1812. Hence Moscow has lost little or 

 nothing of its original aspect by that fire, especially as the part of the 

 Kremlin which was blown up by order of Napoleon has been rebuilt 

 in the same style. The roofs of the houses are composed of irou 

 plates, painted dark greefl, so that at a distance they are lost among 

 the tall groups of trees which rise from the gardens. Tho gilJed 

 cupolas are in general relieved by the green background. The beat 

 view of the city is from the Ivan Veliki, or great tower of Ivan iu 

 the Kremlin, which is in the centre of the city. The extraordinary 

 mixture and contrast of magnificent palaces and petty huts, though 

 still occurring in a few places, no longer strikes the eye as Jloocow 

 previous to the fire of 181-2; the city is daily losing its A.-iatic 

 features, and assuming the appearance of the capital.-i of Western 

 Europe. Happily for the lover of venerable antiquity, the Kremlin, 

 which sufiered comparatively little, notwithstanding the attempts of 

 the French to blow it up, retains unimpaired its ancient irregularity 

 and grandeur. 



Moscow contained in 1885 abovo 10,000 houses, of which more than 

 2000 were of stone, 7 cathedrals, 21 monosteries, 245 Greek, 2 Roman 

 Catholic, and 8 Protestant, besides 2 English churches, 3 Armenian 

 chapels, and a Turkish mosque. 



1. The Kremlin. — The Kremlin, which was first built of stone in 1367, 

 in a commanding situation on the left or north bank of the Moskwa, 

 taken as a whole, is a most singular, beautiful, and magnificent object. 

 It is surrounded with walls from 12 to 16 feet thick, and of difierent 

 heights, 28, 80, 35, 46, and 50 feet, with battlements, embrasure.^, 

 numerous towers, and five gates. The most important of these gates 

 is the Holy Gate, Spass Vorata, or Gate of the Redeemer, so called 

 from a picture of our Saviour which hangs over it. This gateway is 

 under a tower, and about 20 paces in length. Every one from tho 

 emperor to the meanest serf must take off his hat till he has passed 

 through it The most important parts remaining of the ancient palace 

 of the czars are the Terema, which contains below the throne and 

 audience chambers of the old czars, and above the apartments of tho 

 Czarovinas (princesses) and imperial children; and the Orauovitaya 

 Palata, a quadrangular building, the second story of which contains 

 the coronation hall of the emperors of Russia. On the ground occui>ied 

 by the main bo<ly of the old 'Tartar palace stands the Balshoi-Dvoretz, 

 or Large Palace, a lofty and imposing structure, erected and inhabited 

 by the emperor Alexander. Adjoining the Graiiovitaya I'alata is 

 Maloi-Dvoretz, or Little Palace, erected by the present emperor ; it is a 

 neat building, simple in style and interior arrangement. The Kremlin 

 contains many magnificent churches. 



