MOSCOW. 



733 



Moscow, nions. In 13<2, it was taken by Tamerlane, after a 

 ~ short siege, but soon came again into the possession of 

 ^"J- the Russians. It was frequently occupied by the Tar- 

 tars, during the 14-th and 15th centuries;' but they 

 were finally expelled by Joan Vassilievitch I. who ren- 

 dered Moscow the principal city of the empire. It 

 continued to be the metropolis of Russia, till the 

 beginning of the eighteenth century, when the seat 

 f empire was transferred to Petersburgh ; but it 

 Mill continued to be the most populous city in the 

 empire, and the rasidence of those nobles who did not 

 belong to the court, and delighted to exhibit their an- 

 Situation cient feudal grandeur. It stands in the midst of a fer- 

 MSffsncrr lile P la ' n watepe<l l) .v the river Moskwa, which flows 

 round the greater jwrt of the city. It is about twenty- 

 six miles in circumference, and covers twelve times 

 the ares of Peter-burgh. It does not contain, how- 

 ever, above 300,000 inhabitants, of whom about .'50,000 

 are retainers ard domestics ot the nobles, who make 

 their residence in the town only during the winter sea- 

 son. Its appearance, from a little distance, is very sin- 

 gular and splendid, presenting a numerous assemblage 

 of spire* glittering with gold, amidst burnished domes, 

 and pointed palaces. 



There is no outer wall around the city, but only a 

 simple parapet of earth. After filtering this enclosure, 

 the city seems to have disappeared, and nothing is seen 

 but a wide cnttered >uburb. composed of ' hut?, gar- 

 dens, pig-sties, brick-walls, churche-, dung-hills, pa- 

 keen, timber -yards, warehouses," Sec. ' One might 

 imagine," ay Dr. Clarke, " all the states of Europe 

 and Alia had sent a building, byway of representative, 

 lo Moscow ; and under thi impre-ion, the eye is pre- 

 sented with <lt pulies from al countries, holding con- 

 gre ; timber-nuts from regions beyond the Arctic ; 

 planttred palaces from Sweden and Denmark, not 

 white-waxhed since their arrival ; painted walls from 

 the Tyrol ; Mo*i|iies from Constantinople ; Tartar 

 temples from Bucharia; pagodas, pavilions, and viran- 

 das from China; cabaret* from Spain ; dungeons, pri- 

 sons, and public offices from France ; architectural 

 rums from Itome ; terraces and trellises from Naples ; 

 and warehouses from Wapping." The general aspect 

 of the building- i a mixture of gothic and modern ar- 

 chitecture: or rather that of a city built upon the 

 Asiatic model, but gradually becoming more Euro- 

 pean. Many of the palaces, instead of a single struc- 

 ture, are formed of a 'vast assemblage of buildings, dis- 

 triduted into several streets, and l>earing the appear- 

 ance of a moderately-sized town. The streets are very 

 long, and generally broad ; but frequently narrow and 

 dirty. Some of them are paved ; but the greater part 

 re merely floored with trunks of trees or plants, 

 and covered with mud and dust. There is an end- 

 1m rariety in the style of the different buildings. 

 Some of the wooden-houses are painted ; many of 

 the bnck structures have wooden roofs, and others 

 have iron roofs and doors. The churches, which 

 are very numerous, have their domes of wood, or cop- 

 per, or tin, gilded, or painted green. Nor are the dif- 

 ferent edifices assorted with any kind of uniformity ; 

 but wretched hovels are blended with spacious palaces ; 

 and cottages of one story stand next to the most su- 

 perb and lofty mansions. " In a word," snys Mr. 

 Coxe, " some parts of this vast city have the look of a 

 sequestered desert, other quarters of a populous town ; 

 tome of a contemptible village, others of a great capi- 

 tal." " Or," HI the Prince de Ligne has described it, 

 " Moscow looks exactly as if three or four hundred 



great old chateaus had come to live together, each Moscow. 

 bringing along with it its own little attendant village ^"^~,'~^ 

 of thatched cottages." 



Moscow contains five distinct divisions or towns, 

 each surrounded by its own wall, viz. the Kremlin, or 

 fortress ; the Kataigorod, or Tartar town ; the Bielgo- 

 rod, or White town ; the Semlianogorod, or Circular 

 town ; and the Slabode, or Suburbs. The two first 

 are situated on a central eminence, and are placed side 

 by side ; but around them lies the third town in a 

 circle, which is in like manner surrounded by the 

 fourth ; and that again by the fifth, marking, by their 

 several lines of circumvallation, the growth of the place 

 in successive eeras. 1. The Kremlin, which is of a tri- 

 angular form, and about two miles in circumference, 

 contains the citadel, with several churches and magni- 

 ficent houses ; and particularly the palace of the Czars, 

 a building in the Hindoo style, above 200 years old, 

 and one of the most gorgeous pieces of architecture in 

 the city. This part of the town presents an assem- 

 blage of bright gay colours and gaudy ornaments ; the 

 cupolas and roofs being gilt, or stained with green and 

 red ; the walk and towers covered with glazed tiles of 

 blue, white, and yellow, or paintings of the Scripture 

 history ; a melange in short on every side of *' peer- 

 shaped domes, Tartar battlements, gothic tracery, 

 Grecian columns, the star, the crescent, and the cross." 

 2. The Kataigorod, larger than the Kremlin, contains 

 the University, the printing-house, several public build- 

 ings, the tradesmen's shops, and the only street in Mos- 

 cow in which the houses stand close to each other. 3. 

 The Bielgorod ; and 4, the Semlianogorod, exhibit a 

 strange mixture of churches, convents, palaces, brick 

 and wooden houses, and even mean hovels like the cot- 

 tages of the peasantry ; and the, 5, Slabode, is a vast ir- 

 regular circle, surrounding all the other parts, and con- 

 taining all kinds of buildings, besides corn fields, pasture 

 grounds and some small lakes, which give rise to the 

 river Neg'ina. The churches in Moscow are very nu- Churches, 

 morons ; and, including chapels, are not less than 1000. 

 Man}' of them built of brick, are stuccoed or white- 

 washed ; but the greater part are constructed of wood, 

 which is painted of a red colour. The most ancient 

 of these edifices are generally of a square form, with a 

 cupola and four small domes of copper or iron gilt, or 

 ot tin painted green. These cupolas and domes are 

 usually ornamented with crosses, entwined with chains 

 or wires. In the body of these churches, there are 

 usually four square pillars supporting the cupola ; and 

 these, as well as the walls, are covered with paintings 

 of enormous figures, and of rude execution. Over the 

 door of each church is the portrait of the saint to whom 

 it is dedicated, to whom the common people pay re- 

 spect as they pass by, taking off their hats and crossing 

 themselves, or sometimes by repeatedly touching the 

 ground with their heads. 



The bells, which are amongst the most remarkable Bells, 

 objects to be noticed in Moscow, are hung in belfries 

 detached from the church ; and are rung by a rope 

 tied to the clapper. Some of these bells are of extraor- 

 dinary size, and yield the most solemn tones. One of 

 them in the belfry of St. Juan, is above 40 feet in cir- 

 cumference, and more than 57 tons in weight. " When 

 it sounds," says Dr. Clarke, " a deep and hollow mur- 

 mur vibrates all mer Moscow, like the fullest and 

 lowest tones of a vast organ, or the rolling of distant 

 thunder.'' But the great bell of Moscow, the largest ever 

 founded, is in a deep pit in the midst of the Kremlin, 

 where it waa originally cast. It never was suspended : 



