MOSCOW 145 



doxia, wife of Dimitri Donskoi. The present stone convent 

 building was erected in 1737. Just beyond it stands the Chu- 

 doff monastery, founded in 1358 by the MetropoHtan Alexis, 

 and here in 1667 the last Russian church council was held. 

 The present building dates from 1771. Next to it is the Nicho- 

 las or Minor Palace built by Catherine II and restored by 

 Nicholas I. In front of this and across the parade ground 

 near the river wall of the Kremlin is the memorial of Alexan- 

 der II, very much in the style of the Albert Memorial in Lon- 

 don. A covered gallery surrounds the monument on three 

 sides, and on it are mosaics of all the rulers of Russia. To 

 the west of the Minor Palace is the church and tower of Ivan 

 Veliky (great St. John) with its massive bells. At the foot of 

 the tower is the famous Tsar Kolokol (king of bells), the 

 largest bell in the world. It was cast in 1734, and weighs 22 

 tons, is 20 feet high and nearly 21 feet in diameter. A trian- 

 gular piece nearly six feet high was broken out of it when it 

 fell from its place in 1737 during a fire. Towards the north 

 of the great bell in front of the barracks at the other end of 

 the street, is the Great Cannon, cast in 1586, which has a cali- 

 bre one yard in diameter, but has never been discharged. Be- 

 hind Ivan Veliky stands the Cathedral of the Assumption, the 

 place of coronation of all the emperors of Russia, and the place 

 where all the patriarchs of Moscow are entombed. The pres- 

 ent cathedral was restored and rebuilt in part after Napoleon's 

 invasion. Across a small square is the Cathedral of the Arch- 

 angel Michael. Here lie buried all the Tsars of the Rurik and 

 Romanoff dynasties down to Peter the Great. He and his 

 successors lie entombed in the cathedral in the Fortress of Sts. 

 Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg. To the west lies the Cathe- 

 dral of the Annunciation, in which all the Tsars before Peter 

 were baptized and married, still used for royal baptisms and 

 marriages. 



Towards the westerly end of the Kremlin is the Great Palace 

 in which all the history of Moscow was focussed until after 

 the time of Peter the Great. It is the union and combination 

 of all the ancient palaces, and contains the magnificent halls 

 of St. George and St. Alexander and also the ancient Terem 

 or women's palace, which is now completely modernized. In 

 the centre of the courtyard of the palace stands the Church of 



