Russia extends over eastern Europe, the whole of northern Asia, and
a part of central Asia. This area, which is more than twice as large
as Europe, and embraces one-sixth of the land-surface of the globe,
has a population estimated at near one hundred and seventy-four
millions. The Russian Empire consists of two well-defined parts:
European Russia less than one-fourth of the whole but including
nearly three-fourths of its population; and Asiatic Russia. The
inhabitants of European Russia mostly belong to the Slavic branch of
the human race.
The subdivisions are indicated in the following table:
=======================================+=========+===========
| AREA |
GOVERNMENTS AND | ENGLISH |POPULATION
PROVINCES | SQUARE |JAN. 1912
| MILES |
---------------------------------------+---------+-----------
_European Russia_: | |
Russia proper (50 Provs.) |1,862,524|122,550,700
Poland (10 Provs.) | 49,018| 12,776,100
Finland (Grand Duchy) | 144,178| 3,140,100
_Asiatic Russia_: | |
Caucasia (11 Provs.) | 180,703| 12,288,100
Central Asia (10 Provs. and Regions)|1,325,530| 10,727,000
Siberia (8 Provs. and Regions) |4,786,730| 9,577,900
_Dependencies_: | |
Khiva | 26,028| 800,000
Bokhara | 78,524| 1,500,000
Inland Lakes | 317,468| --
+---------+-----------
|8,770,703|173,359,900
---------------------------------------+---------+-----------
The various sections of European Russia differ greatly from one another,
and have thereby given rise to certain _popular divisions_ that are even
better known generally than the strictly governmental provinces. These,
with their distinguishing features, may be indicated as follows:
_Great Russia_ (Muscovy).--All the central and northern regions to the
Arctic shores. Chief towns: Moscow, Tula.
Except on its outskirts, this region presents everywhere the same
aspects, wide, undulating plains covered with cornfields and dotted with
small deciduous forests. The soil is of very moderate fertility in the
north, but very fertile in the black earth belt of the south.
The Great Russians, numbering about fifty-five millions, are a vigorous
and manly stock, usually rather light-haired, with blue or brown eyes,
well-formed hands and feet, and a serious, kindly, but somewhat crafty,
temperament, an inborn disposition for a wandering life, a very small
regard to the value of time, and (especially in the peasantry) an
extreme carelessness and slovenliness in all details of daily life.
_Little Russia_, or the Ukraine.--In the southwest. Chief town: Kieff.
The little Russians, over twenty-two millions in all, are settled in the
Ukraine, which contains also in the borderlands some twelve per cent of
Jews and six per cent of Poles. Their religion, like their love for
music and poetry and their passion for country life, they share with
their relations on the north and northeast, but in their developments of
folklore and popular song, and in the more feminine character both of
their physique and their intellect, they offer marked peculiarities. The
Little Russians of the Dnieper basin are closely allied to the
Ruthenians of Austria-Hungary.
The Ukraine comprises the governments of Tchernigoff, Kieff, Poltava,
and part of Kharkoff, as well as Volhynia and Podolia on the spurs of
the Carpathians, the richest and most populous parts of Russia. The soil
is mostly a rich black earth, and assumes farther south the aspect of
fine grassy steppes, or prairies, yielding rich crops of wheat.
[Illustration: =PETER THE GREAT IN HOLLAND=
The practical ambition of Peter the Great has probably never been
surpassed by any sovereign in history. He began empire building with his
travels in 1697. It was an unparalleled step for a young sovereign of
twenty-five to take: to withdraw from his kingdom and journey abroad in
order to learn the art of government. He was deeply interested in all
branches of engineering, especially ship-building, which he first
studied in Holland, working as an ordinary laborer in a dockyard. In
1698 Peter went to England to pursue his studies in the theory and
practice of ship construction, which he did by visiting the dockyards of
Woolwich, Chatham, and Deptford.]
_Eastern Russia._--Chief towns: Astrakhan, Kazan, Samara, Saratoff.
This part of the country is more elevated, but less effectively drained;
and vast forests stretch from the upper Volga to the Urals.
The peoples are of Turkish origin and include the Tartars of Kazan; the
Nogai Tartars of the Crimea in the south, and the Kirgiz on the Caspian.
The Bashkirs, Chuvash, and others, in the Ural and Volga, are Tartarized
Finns. The Kalmucks may be taken as the purest type of the Mongols; they
are short, swarthy, broad-shouldered horsemen, black-haired and
black-eyed, the eyes slanting down toward the flat nose.
_South Russia._--Along the Black Sea. Chief towns: Odessa, Nikolayeff,
Kisheneff.
This is chiefly the steppe-region, a belt more than two hundred miles
wide along the littoral of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and
extends east through the region of the lower Volga and Ural till it
meets the steppes of central Asia.
Here are gently undulating plains, clothed with rich grass and coated
with a thick layer of fertile black earth.
In order to people Bessarabia after its conquest in the eighteenth
century without depriving the Russian landowners of their serfs, several
races of foreigners, as Moldavians, Wallachians (Vlachs), Servians,
Greeks, Germans, and even Scotch, were freely invited to settle there.
The population of the steppe-region exceeds thirteen millions.
_Western Russia._--Including the Lithuanian provinces of Kovno, Vilna,
and part of Grodno and Vitebsk, drained by the Niemen and the upper
Dwina, and other portions of the former kingdom of Poland. Chief town:
Vilna.
Here dwell the White Russians, who number about six millions, but they
are more mixed with Poles, Jews and Little Russians. In all essentials
they are merely “poor relations” of the Great Russian family, living, on
the whole, in a more degraded and undeveloped state than any other
Russians.
_The Baltic Provinces._--The coast-lands of the Gulfs of Finland and
Riga. Chief towns: Petrograd (St. Petersburg), Revel, Riga.
These are four Russian governments bordering on the Baltic--viz.,
Courland, Livonia, Esthonia, and Petrograd; or in a restricted sense,
often the first three. The Baltic provinces once belonged to Sweden,
except Courland, which was a dependency of Poland. They came into the
possession of Russia partly in the beginning of the eighteenth century
through the conquests of Peter the Great, partly under Alexander in
1809.
They occupy an undulating plain three hundred to eight hundred feet
above the sea. Owing to the influence of the sea, this region enjoys a
milder climate than the rest of Russia, and has maintained its excellent
forests, chiefly of oak. The soil is of moderate fertility.
The more important non-Slavic peoples of this region are the Lithuanians
(one million two hundred and fifty thousand) and Letts (one million five
hundred thousand), chiefly in Kovno, Vilna, Grodno, Vitebsk, Courland,
and S. Livonia. The Germans (one million five hundred thousand) are
mainly descendants of the mediæval conquerors of the east Baltic coasts
(Teutonic Knights, Knights of the Sword, and their followers) and of the
agricultural colonists brought by Catherine II.
_The Grand-Duchy of Finland._--In the northwest, next Scandinavia. Chief
towns: Viborg, Helsingfors, Abo.
Finland was ceded by the Swedes in 1809, but still retains an
independent administration. The interior, chiefly elevated plateau,
consists largely of forest land, and is well supplied with lakes, many
of which are united by canals. (See also under Europe.)
Education is highly advanced; Swedish and Finnish are the two languages
of the country, Russian being practically unknown. There is an
excellent Saga literature, and the beginnings of a modern literature.
The Finns came under the dominion of the Swedes in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, and were by them Christianized.
The Finnish race includes the Finns and the Karelians (two million four
hundred thousand in Finland and three hundred and fifty thousand in
European Russia); the Esthonians, the people of Livonia, and other
Western Finns in the Baltic Provinces (about one million); the Lapps and
the Samoyedes in the far north; and the Volga Finns and the Ugrians (one
million seven hundred and fifty thousand in European Russia and fifty
thousand in Siberia). The Eastern Finns are being rapidly absorbed by
the Russians; but the Western Finns warmly cherish their nationality.
[7]_Poland._--In the west, next Germany. Chief town: Warsaw.
[7] Russian Poland was created into an independent kingdom by a
joint edict of Germany and Austria-Hungary promulgated at Warsaw
November 5, 1916. What its future status may be when the map of
Europe is re-adjusted after the close of the European War is
uncertain. For the present it is given a place among the independent
nations.
=Surface Features.=--In general these embody the plains of European
Russia and the lowlands and plains that extend to the north of the two
great plateaus of Asia--the high plateau of East Asia and the western
plateau of Persia and Armenia.
In European Russia, apart from the Caucasus, the Urals, and the Crimea,
the only districts rising above one thousand feet are the Valdai hills
at head of the Volga, the Timan range (over three thousand feet) in the
Pechora basin, several heights in Russian Lapland (over one thousand
five hundred), and some in Ukraine (over one thousand). The main
divisions of its landscape are the treeless northern tundras, frozen in
winter, grassy in summer; the rock and lake plateau of Finland; the
immense central forest region, the cultivated parts of which supply
Europe with grain; and the treeless steppes, which lie across the south
of the plain from the saline borders of the northern Caspian toward
Roumania on the west.
In Western Asia, the Caucasus is a single chain, so narrow that the same
summits may be seen from the steppes which reach out from its northern
base, and from the deep valleys which separate it from the heights of
Armenia on the south. It has thus no great valleys in the direction of
its length. The spurs descending from the main chain have deep gorges or
troughs between. The culminating points are the Elbruz peak and Koshtan
Tau, towards the western end of the chain; and Mount Kazbek, near the
middle of it--all rising grandly from deep valleys.
The two most important passes over it were called in ancient times the
Caucasian and Albanian gates. The former, now called the Dariel Pass,
lies close to the eastern base of the Kazbek, and is a narrow cleft
eight thousand two hundred and fifteen feet above the sea, available for
carriages in the summer. The latter skirts the eastern termination of
the range on the shores of the Caspian.
Over the whole chain vegetation is vigorous, but more luxuriant on the
warmer southern slopes. The valleys opening in that direction are highly
fertile, producing rice and cotton and silk, indigo, tobacco, and vines,
and luxuriant woods. The northern slopes, exposed to the keen winds of
the steppes, are characterized by bare pasture-lands and scattered
firwoods.
All Western Siberia, nearest the Ural belt and European Russia, is a
vast plain rising almost imperceptibly from the shores of the Arctic
Ocean to the Kirghiz steppes and the base of the Altai mountains, which
spring up from it like a wall, forming the northern buttress of the
great tableland of Central Asia. The northern border of this plain is
occupied by the marshy frozen tundras; the broad central belt is covered
with forest, in the cleared spaces of which the soil is fertile and well
suited to agriculture; all the southern portion of it is occupied by
treeless steppes which reach away south towards the Caspian and Aral
Seas.
The chief elevation in eastern Siberia is a chain of volcanic mountains
running down the center of the peninsula of Kamchatka, some of whose
peaks reach an elevation of seventeen thousand feet.
=Rivers.=--The chief rivers of Russia are the Niemen, the Dwina, the
Lovat (continued by the Volkhov and the Neva), the Onega, the Dnieper,
the Don and the Volga. By means of three lines of canals and canalized
rivers, which connect the upper tributaries of the Volga with the
streams that flow into Lakes Onega and Ladoga, the real mouth of the
Volga has been transferred from the Caspian to the Gulf of
Finland--Petrograd being the chief port of the Volga basin. The upper
Volga and the upper Kama are also connected by canals with the North
Dwina, and the Dnieper with the Düna, the Niemen, and the Vistula.
The rainfall of Russia is small, and as part of it falls in the shape of
snow, the rivers are flooded in spring and in early summer. During the
winter navigation of course ceases.
=The Lake District.=--This region lies in the north, and includes the
governments of Petrograd, Novgorod, and Finland. The lakes in the
district are well-nigh innumerable, the government of Novgorod alone
containing more than three thousand lakes. The chief lakes of Finland
are the Enare and Saima. Lake Ladoga is the largest lake in Russian
Europe. For a third of the year its surface is frozen. The lake abounds
with fish, and has a peculiar species of seal. The Neva flows from the
lake into the Gulf of Finland.
Lake Onega is joined up to the White Sea by means of a series of lakes
and streams.
Lake Ilmen is formed by the meeting of a number of rivers in a shallow
depression; the average depth does not exceed thirty feet.
Lake Peipus, a part of which is called the Lake of Pskov, connects with
the Gulf of Riga and with the Gulf of Finland. This lake also is very
shallow and does not in any part exceed a depth of ninety feet.
=Seaboard and Islands.=--The ports on the Arctic coast are of little
importance, since for nearly three-quarters of the year the outlets are
frozen.
The White Sea with its port, Archangel, had lost much of the importance
which it formerly possessed until brought into use during the European
war in 1916-1917.
The Bering Sea and the coasts which border on the Sea of Japan lose much
of their value because they are bleak and inhospitable. The great gulf
which has the town of Vladivostok at its head is separated by miles of
waste land from the interior, and the value of one of the most
magnificent harbors in the world suffers much from this fact.
The sea which is of most importance to Russia is the Baltic, with its
gulfs of Bothnia, Riga, and Finland. The chief Russian ports are to be
found situated on its banks, and yet it can in no respect be regarded as
a purely Russian sea.
The chief islands of the Baltic are: the Aland Archipelago, Dago, Oesel,
Mohn, Hochland, and Kotlin, which contains the fortress of Cronstadt.
The Black Sea is becoming of more and more importance every year. The
coast lands are being developed, and as the produce of the interior
becomes greater so the importance of the Black Sea increases.
The Sea of Azov is the greatest inlet of this sea, but on the whole the
importance of the Black Sea is lessened by the fact that it has so few
good ports. The best are those of the peninsula of the Crimea, but these
are too remote to be of any great importance.
Odessa is the second port of Russia and the greatest port of the Black
Sea. Sebastopol is the great naval station, and Batum owes its
importance to the fact that it is the port of the oil fields of the
Caucasus.
The great inland sea of Russia, the Caspian, lacks importance chiefly
because of the fact that it is an inland sea. It forms a good means of
communication from the Transcaucasian provinces to Central Asia, and
also between Central Asia and Persia; but although attempts have been
made to unite it with the Black Sea, the fact that it lies seventy feet
below sea-level prevents any real good from being done. It is, however,
of vast importance as a fishing center, and supplies almost the whole of
Russia with fish.
=Climate.=--In European Russia, except in the Baltic provinces, the
south of the Crimea, and a narrow strip of land on the Black Sea, the
climate is continental. A very cold winter, followed by a spring which
sets in rapidly; a hot summer; an autumn cooler than spring; early
frosts; and a small rainfall, chiefly during the summer and autumn, are
the main features. The winter is cold everywhere. All the rivers are
frozen over early in December, and they remain under ice for from one
hundred days in the south to one hundred and sixty days in the north.
=Products and Industries.=--Excepting along the tundra belt on the
Arctic coasts, in Finland, and in the saline steppes of the southeast,
the cultivation of grain extends all over the great Russian plains.
=Agriculture and Forests.=--Rye and barley, oats and flax, are the chief
crops in the north; wheat and vines, hemp and tobacco, the products of
the center and the south. The south central governments, extending from
the Upper Oka to the Ukraine on the Dnieper, may be regarded as the
granary of Russia, for they produce a third of all its corn supply.
Russia is thus most important of all as a grain-producing country.
Its forests extend over about forty per cent of the surface--pine and
fir and birch in the north; oak and elm and lime in the center and
south. The timber is sent down the Niemen and Vistula to the Baltic, and
to Archangel in the White Sea, in enormous quantities for the supply of
western Europe. In Russia itself the larger portion of the houses are
built of wood.
=Live Stock and Fisheries.=--The steppes of the south are the great
pastoral lands of Russia, which possess more than forty-five millions of
sheep, about twenty-five per cent yielding fine wool; twenty-five
millions of cattle; and twenty millions of horses. Russian leather is
famous. Swine are also kept in very large numbers all over the land; the
export of bristles and brushes from Russia is very large. Reindeer form
the wealth of the Lapps and Samoyeds in the north; camels of the Tartars
in the southeastern steppes. Hunting the bear, wolf, fox, and deer, and
trapping the sable in the forests for their skins, give employment to
many. The Caspian, as well as the Sea of Azof, the Black Sea, and the
great rivers, are rich in fish--tunny, sturgeon, salmon, anchovy. Most
caviare is made at Astrakhan on the Caspian.
MINERALS.--The Obdorsk and Ural Mountains contain very great mineral
riches, and, with the Altai range, are the principal seat of mining and
metallic industry, producing gold, platinum, copper, iron of very
superior quality, rock-salt, marble, and kaolin, or china-clay. Silver,
gold, and lead are also obtained in large quantities from the mines in
the Altai Mountains. Russia is now the largest producer of petroleum in
the world. Great supplies of petroleum and naptha are found in the Baku,
Kerch, and Taman. An immense bed of coal, both steam and anthracite, and
apparently inexhaustible, has been discovered in the basin of the Donetz
(between the rivers Donetz and Dnieper). Other mineral products are:
gold, platinum, pig iron, steel and rails, copper, quicksilver, salt and
lead.
=Education.=--From the close of the sixteenth century onward till 1861,
the greater portion of the inhabitants of Russia were serfs, belonging
either to the crown or to private individuals. Under these circumstances
it is not surprising that the masses of the people in Russia are without
education. Finland is in advance of all other parts of the empire in
respect of education; it possesses a separate system. Probably not more
than ten per cent of the population have received instruction of any
kind. The control and maintenance of primary schools is divided between
the Ministry of Public Instruction and the Holy Synod. Conditions are,
however, improving. Secondary institutions comprise gymnasia and good
schools, but numbers and attendances are small. Special schools are
increasing in number, especially in the European cities. There are
universities at Kazan, Kieff, Kharkoff, Moscow, Odessa, Petrograd,
Saratoff, Tomsk, Yurieff and Warsaw.
=Religion.=--The great bulk of the Russians--excepting a few White
Russians professing the Union--belong to the Greek-Russian Church, or to
one of its numberless sects of dissenters. The Poles and most of the
Lithuanians are Roman Catholics; while the Finns, the Esthonians, and
other Western Finns, the Swedes, and the Germans, are Protestant (about
four millions).
=Cities and Towns.=--The largest towns in European Russia are Petrograd
(2,018,596), Moscow (1,173,427), Warsaw (756,426), Riga (500,000),
Odessa (449,673), Lodz (351,570), Kieff (329,000), Kharkoff (197,405),
Vilna (162,633), Saratoff (143,431), Kazan (143,707), Ekaterinoslav
(135,552), Rostoff (119,889), Astrakhan (121,580), Tula (109,279), and
Kishineff (125,787); while Nijni Novgorod, Nikolaieff, Samara, and Minsk
have populations between 90,000 and 95,000. In Asiatic Russia the
Caucasus contains two towns with over 100,000 inhabitants: Baku
(179,133), and Tiflis (160,645); Turkestan contains five large towns,
Tashkend (156,000), Namangan, Samarkand, and Andijan; in Siberia
Vladivostok has 90,000 (one-third Chinese), Tomsk, Irkutsk, and
Ekaterinburg have each about 50,000 inhabitants. Nijni Novgorod, though
small, is a station on the Trans-Siberian Railway, and has annually the
largest fair in the world.
[Illustration: =PALACE OF PETER THE GREAT, FOUNDER OF PETROGRAD=]
=Petrograd=, the splendid looking metropolis of the Russian Empire, is
situated on the River Neva, near its entrance into the Gulf of Finland.
The flat and low marshy ground upon which the city is built only
recently emerged from the sea. The mighty Neva, which flows thirty-six
miles from Lake Ladoga, subdivides into many branches, thus forming some
one hundred islands.
[Illustration: =VIEW OF PETROGRAD, RUSSIA, FROM THE ISLAND=]
Peter the Great began to build, in 1703, a small hut for himself, and
some wooden hovels near the old fort. Now the quays form noble
uninterrupted walks for several miles on each side of the broad, deep,
rapid, and clear river. The climate is cold, damp, and changeable with a
mean summer temperature of sixty-four degrees, mean winter temperature
of fifteen degrees.
[Illustration: =THE IMPERIAL WINTER PALACE, PETROGRAD=]
GENERAL ASPECT AND DIVISIONS.--The main body of the city stands on the
mainland, on the left bank of the Neva; and a beautiful granite quay,
with a long series of palaces and mansions, stretches for two and
one-half miles. Only three permanent bridges cross the Neva; a bridge of
boats is constructed each spring and removed each autumn.
The island Vasilievsky, between the Great and Little Nevas, contains the
Stock Exchange, the Academy of Sciences, the University, the
Philological Institute, the Academy of Arts, and various schools and
colleges.
On the Petrogradsky Island, between the Little Neva and the Great Neva,
stands the old fortress and prison of St. Peter and St. Paul, facing the
Winter Palace, and containing the mint and the cathedral wherein the
members of the imperial family are buried, also the arsenal.
THE CHIEF CENTER.--The main part of Petrograd has for its center the Old
Admiralty. Its lofty gilded spire and the gilded dome of St. Isaac’s
Cathedral are among the first sights caught on approaching Petrograd by
sea. Three streets radiate from it, the first of them, the famous Nevsky
Prospect. The street architecture, with its huge brick houses covered
with stucco and mostly painted gray, is rigid and military in aspect.
A spacious square, planted with trees, encloses the Old Admiralty on
three sides. To the east of it rise the magnificent mass of the Winter
Palace, the Hermitage Gallery of Art, and the semicircular buildings of
the general staff.
In the Petrogradsky Square is the well-known statue of Peter I. on an
immense block of Finland granite. The richly decorated cathedral of St.
Isaac of Dalmatia, erected by Nicholas I., is an almost cubic building
(three hundred and thirty feet long, two hundred and ninety feet broad,
and three hundred and ten feet high), surmounted by one large and lofty
and four small gilded domes.
In Nevsky Prospect are the Kazan Cathedral, the Public Library, the
square of Catherine II., and the Anitchkoff Palace.
The aristocratic quarter lies between the line of the Nevsky Prospect
and the River Neva.
The principal places of interest are: the Imperial or Winter Palace, the
Hermitage, St. Isaac’s Cathedral, the Kazan Cathedral, the Cathedral of
Saints Peter and Paul, the Smolnoi Church, the Academy of Science, the
House of Peter the Great; and, in the environs, Tsarskoe Selo, and
Peterhof. For most travelers the greatest attraction in Petrograd is:
THE HERMITAGE.--It is connected with the Winter Palace, and was
originally built by the Empress Catherine II. as a retreat. The present
building, erected 1840-1852, by Klenze, is in the Greek style; it is a
parallelogram, five hundred and twelve feet by three hundred and
seventy-five feet, and for elegance of form as well as for beauty and
costliness of materials employed has scarcely a rival in Europe.
Baedeker says: “The gallery of the Hermitage unquestionably stands among
the first in Europe, not on account of its numbers (it boasts over one
thousand nine hundred pictures) or on account of its completeness--the
art of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and the entire German
school is lacking--but because it possesses such a number of
masterpieces from the best periods of the various schools, that for the
Spanish masters it ranks next to the Prado and the Louvre, in French
masters it is surpassed only by the Louvre, in Flemish artists it stands
on a level with the principal galleries, and it is the premier
collection of the Dutch school, especially Rembrandt.”
CATHEDRAL OF ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL is in the fortress. It was erected
1714-1733, and was several times damaged by lightning. It has a
beautiful spire, three hundred and two feet, the loftiest in Russia,
except that at Reval. All sovereigns of Russia, including and since
Peter the Great, except Peter II., who was interred at Moscow, lie
buried here. The tomb of Peter the Great is near the south door. On the
walls are many military trophies, keys of fortresses, flags, weapons,
shields, etc. Nearby the Cathedral, in a brick building, is the boat of
Peter the Great, preserved exactly as when it engaged the curious
attention of Peter and so led to the creation of the Russian navy, of
which it is facetiously called the “Grandfather.”
[Illustration: =THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. ISAAC=
The largest in Petrograd, was begun a century ago by Catherine II.; but
was rebuilt in 1819-1858, by Montferrand, in the shape of a Greek cross.
It is a simple but massive pile, with one hundred and twelve pillars in
the four fronts. Those at the chief entrance are sixty feet high, and
seven feet diameter--all round and highly polished granite monoliths
from Finland. The dome, two hundred and ninety-six feet high, is
surmounted by a golden cross and covered with copper, overlaid with
gold. The Altar screen is of immense value and the entire edifice cost
about fifty million dollars.]
THE KAZAN CATHEDRAL is situated upon the Nevsky Prospect, and is
approached by a circular colonnade, in imitation of St. Peter’s at Rome.
In front are fine statues of Smolenskoi and de Tolly. The interior
corresponds in its magnificence and display to St. Isaac’s. The special
object of interest is the image of “Our Lady of Kazan,” which is covered
with gems, the diamonds of the crown being of exceeding value. Around
the cathedral are banners of important victories won by Russian arms and
valor.
[Illustration: =STATUE OF PETER THE GREAT, PETROGRAD=
A very striking equestrian statue, erected by Catherine II. in 1782. It
is of colossal size, by Falconet, and stands on a huge pedestal of
granite, between St. Isaac’s Church and the River Neva.]
THE SMOLNOI CHURCH, at the eastern extremity of the city, is peculiarly
rich in its effects, the entire structure and all its decorations being
of the purest white. In connection with this church is a celebrated
seminary for young ladies of noble birth.
CATHEDRAL AND MONASTERY OF ST. ALEXANDER NEVSKY is at the extreme east
end of the Nevsky Prospect. The buildings cover much ground, and include
twelve churches, the monastery, and gardens. The Cathedral, which is
that of the Metropolitan, dating from 1790, is enriched with marble and
agate and paintings--the altarpiece, the Annunciation, is by Raphael
Mengs. On pillars opposite the altar are large portraits of Peter the
Great and Catherine II. The shrine of St. Alexander Nevsky is of silver,
about two thousand pounds of the metal being used in the whole; near the
tomb are suspended the keys of Adrianople. The Monastery has a rich
collection of jeweled mitres, gold brocaded vestments, and a mass of
valuables, also many objects of interest, including the crown of St.
Alexander and the bed on which Peter the Great died.
TSARSKOE SELO (_tsär’kō-ye sā´lō_), about fifteen miles south of St.
Petersburg, contains a famous imperial palace, a favorite summer
residence of the court. The Old Palace, begun in 1744, is richly
decorated, the walls of one room are incrusted with amber, those of
another with lapis lazuli. The magnificent marble gallery, two hundred
and seventy feet long, connects the palace with a detached building. The
park is full of caprices, such as a Chinese tower and village, an
Egyptian pyramid, a Turkish kiosk, and the so-called doll-houses of the
royal princesses.
[Illustration: =MONUMENT TO NICHOLAS I., PETROGRAD=]
PETERHOF (_pā´ter-hōf_), near Oranienbaum, was begun in 1720, and built
by Leblond for Peter the Great. A marine palace, with a long front, made
to retain its original appearance, even its ancient yellow color has
been continually renewed. It contains porcelain, malachite, tapestry,
paintings of victories in the reign of Catherine II., and a collection
of three hundred and sixty-eight portraits of women, painted by Count
Rosali for the empress during a journey. All are in the national
costume. The gardens are full of Neptunes and Tritons and good
fountains. The well-wooded park has many curiosities:--Marli, a favorite
resort of Peter the Great; the cottage of the Empress Catherine,
brilliant with gold and mirrors; the Palais de Paille; the English
Garden, with a ball-room.
[Illustration: =THE HERMITAGE OR MUSEUM OF ART,=
connected with the Winter Palace, is one of most famous in Europe and
contains one thousand seven hundred paintings of all schools, among them
being some by Murillo, Velasquez, Rubens, Van Dyke, Rembrandt, and
Ruysdael.]
=Moscow= (_mŏs’kō_), the ancient capital of the Russian Empire, is one
of the most magnificent and interesting cities of the world. The city is
gathered in a semi-circle around the citadel, or Kremlin, which stands
immediately upon the river bank. The streets are exceedingly irregular,
though generally presenting the appearance of broad, well-paved avenues
of a modern European city. The innumerable white, semi-oriental
structures which greet the vision from every commanding point, with
their unnumbered domes, spires, belfries, towers, and minarets, give to
the city a magnificence of beauty scarcely to be found elsewhere in the
great cities of Europe.
THE KREMLIN.--The historic, as well as the most interesting part of the
city, is within the walls of the Kremlin. It is associated with much
that is held in deepest reverence by Russians--here the imperial power
receives religious consecration, and the great bell of Ivan Veliky
proclaims the new monarch. The Kremlin is an assemblage of many
buildings, covering quite a section of the city--churches, palaces,
arsenals, barracks, monuments--enclosed within a brick wall about a mile
and a half in circuit. Upon the wall, which is sixty feet high, are
twenty-one towers. The principal gate, the Gate of the Saviour, is on
the east side. Over the passage of the gate is the venerated “Saviour”
brought from Smolensk in 1685, and it is the custom for the passer-by to
uncover his head.
THE TOWER OF IVAN VELIKY, or John the Great, built in 1600, and three
hundred and twenty feet high, contains thirty-four bells, the largest of
which weighs sixty-four tons. When all these bells are rung together at
Easter the effect is wonderful. At the foot of this tower is the vast
Tsar Kolokol, or Monarch of Bells. It once hung in a tower (burned in
1737), weighs four hundred and forty-four thousand pounds, and is twenty
feet high and sixty feet round. The value of the metal in the bell is
nearly two million dollars.
Outside the Kremlin is the Chinese town, so-called, founded by Helena.
Here are the Romanoff Palace, the Iberian Gate and Chapel, the
University, the great Riding School, the Theaters, and the largest
Bazaar in Russia, except that of Nijni-Novgorod.
THE CHURCH OF THE SAVIOUR, is conspicuous near the river, a quarter mile
southwest of the Kremlin. This beautiful church, by the architect Thon,
was erected 1837-1883, at a cost of more than eight million dollars. It
has five cupolas, the principal being about one hundred feet in
diameter; many figures in relief of patriarchs and saints upon the
facade. The interior is elaborately decorated with marble and gilding;
upon the walls are tablets relating to military events, admirable
paintings and sculpture.
THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. BASIL, erected 1554-1557, is a remarkable edifice,
consisting of eleven chapels with as many cupolas, all different, but
wonderfully proportioned.
=Vladivostok= (_vlä-dē-vōs-tok´_), capital (since 1903) of the
vice-royalty of Eastern Asia, Siberia, is situated on the east shore of
Amur Gulf. It has one of the finest harbors in the world, is a naval
station, has an arsenal, and is a terminus of the Siberian railroad. It
escaped attack during the Russo-Japanese war, but suffered from naval
mutiny and unrest in the Russian disturbances of 1905-1906. Its climate
is severe--the average annual temperature being only forty degrees
Fahrenheit.