rut cathe;dral of" st. Isaac's at petrograd 



When the bleak north turns luxurious it can devise splendors to rival those of India, as 

 Petrograd's magnificent cathedral well establishes. St. Isaac's, a huge pile in the form of a 

 Greek cross, of granite blocks and bronze entableture vi^ithout, a bewilderment of richest 

 marbles within, columns of lapislazuli and exquisite jade, panels of malachite, sanctuaries in 

 snowv and colored marbles, profuse with the works of artists, among them the sculptor 

 Vitali, a prodigal marvel of bronze, m.arble, gold, and silver, is the peerless church of the 

 Tsar's capital. The interior decorations cost more than twenty million dollars (see p. 503). 



Nearly a thousand years had passed since the birth of Christ before the Russian Slavs 

 were converted to Christianity. Already the English, the Franks, and the Germans had been 

 Christians for some centuries, when, in 987, Prince Vladimir sent envoys to study the religions 

 of the various neighboring nations whose representatives had been urging him to embrace 

 their respective faiths. Nestor describes their report in amusing terms. Of the Mussulmans 

 they reported, "There is no gladness among them, only sorrow and a great stench; their 

 religion )s not a good one." At Constantinople they said "we no longer knew whether we 

 were in heaven or on earth, nor such beauty, and we know not how to tell of it." Vladimir 

 thereupon received the missionaries from Constantinople, was baptized, and helped to convert 

 his countrvmen. 



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