General View of Petersburg

Having passed Kronstadt, we are now fairly in at the front door of Russia. That door closed and doubly locked behind us, we float away on a lake -like expanse, the shallower waters of the Gulf of Finland, into which, 16 miles higher up, the beautiful Neva debouches. We were about 22 miles from the capital, and surrounded on all sides by a spacious perspective of waters, into which Kronstadt, now already far behind us, seemed gradually to sink, the land boundary right and left being still too distant to define. Having passed the bar formed by the junction of the Neva with the gulf, the yellow bed of which, with certain winds, is occasionally left bare, the hitherto wide. expanse of water becomes narrower, the land gradually closes in, far away, over the bend of the river gleam tall gilt spires, whose taper points are lost to sight amid the rich azure of heaven; while domes and clustering cupolas, covered with gold, or silver, or blue or green, spangled with stars, scintillated from afar, the stupendous burnished domes of the colossal cathedral of St. Isaac shining out with a refulgence so dazzling as to be visible at a distance of 40 versts.1 The indented shores, with here and there a patch of shingle and sand, now give place to massive granite bulwarks, which dictate bounds to the noble Neva. Broad quays, graceful churches, public buildings like palaces, and the princely dwellings of the nobility, form the bold perspective on either hand, while a fine. cast-iron bridge, resting on many piers of Finnish granite, spans the broad blue stream. Far away through the perspective of its arches, the roving eye pursues the same line of architecture, catching glimpses of the Fortress, the Exchange, and the Imperial Winter Palace. We are now in Petersburg, that region of blue skies, palaces, and glittering cupolas, which, say what you like of pile and

1 A verst approximately equals a kilometer, i.e. about five-eighths of a mile.

swamp, is surely without a rival among the cities of Europe.

ANON.-Six Years' Travel in Russia. Hurst and Blackett.

Moscow

The original founders of Moscow settled without doubt

on the Kremlin 2 hill, which naturally became the centre of

THE SPASKY GATE OF THE KREMLIN, WITH THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. BASIL THE BLESSED ON THE RIGHT

the city at a later period. Nearest that fortified hill lay the Kitaigorod (Chinese city), the oldest part of Moscow. Around both the Kremlin and the Kitaigorod lies the 2 Russian, Kreml.

1 Russian, Moskva.

Beloigorod (white city), which is encircled by boulevards. Round Beloigorod runs in a like circular form Zemlyanoigorod (earthen city), again surrounded by boulevards. These rings, forming the body of the city so called, are intersected by streets radiating from the open places round the Kremlin as a common centre. The streets undulate continually, and thus offer from time to time points of view, whence the eye is able to range over the vast ocean of housetops, trees, and gilded and coloured domes.

The Kremlin is best viewed from the south side and from the bridge over the Moskva. From the river that bathes its base, the hill of the Kremlin rises, picturesquely adorned with turf and shrubs. The buildings appear set in a rich frame of water, verdant foliage, and snowy wall, the majestic column of Ivan Veliki rearing itself high above all. The colours are everywhere most lively—red, white, green, gold, and silver. Amid the confusion of the numerous small antique edifices, the Bolshoi Dvorets, the large palace built by Nicholas I., has an imposing aspect. The churches and palaces stand on the summit of the Kremlin like its crown, themselves again crowned with a multitude of cupolas, of which every church has at least five, and one has sixteen, glittering in gold and silver. The appearance of the whole is so picturesque that a painter has only to make a faithful copy to produce a most. attractive picture; but I never saw one that did not fall far short of the original, certainly one of the most striking city views in Europe.

All travellers agree that Moscow must be seen and cannot be described. Innumerable descriptions have been written of its churches and palaces-no book of Russian travel is without one.

NIZHNI NOVGOROD

41

Nizhni Novgorod 1

1

The name of Nizhni Novgorod is known to every one, but few, I imagine, have an adequate conception of its beauty. It consists, in fact, of two towns. The old city is built about a fortress, marking what was once the debateable ground of Slav and Tatar, the rocky hill which it crowns as part of the precipitous termination of a range of cliffs; a deep ravine intersects the city itself, running up to the embankment of the Kremlin; and a wild region of table-lands and mountain courses lies behind. Underneath the plateau of the Kremlin may be seen the broad waters of the Oka, and where they join the Volga, a long bridge unites the old city to the plain that lies in the angle of the two rivers. On this plain the fair is held for which 200,000 merchants have gathered together. All here is symmetrical and angular; but the Governor's house in the upper part of the great bazaar, and the mosques and churches and the Chinese quarter, take away the appearance of uniformity. The view from the bridge is, perhaps, unequalled of its kind. The quiet waters are covered with a fleet of river boats, steamers, and barges, and swarming with a picturesque life of 40,000 inhabitants; whilst the contrast of the stationary caravan on the plain and the Russian Acropolis hanging over it scarcely needs to be touched into a higher beauty by the setting sun. It is almost as if Prag and ancient Venice had been moulded into a new city by some magical creation.

ANON.-Russia. Graham.

A longer, but in many respects excellent description of the situation of the town is given by W. SPOTTISWOODE, A Tarantas Journey, pp. 5-9,

=

1 Properly Nizhnyi, but often written Nijni. Zh and not j represents the true sound. Nizhnyi-Lower, Novgorod Newcastle. Great Novgorod, equally famous for its fair in the Middle Ages, lies south of Petersburg.