Almost upon a level with the Holy Corridor is the entrance to the Old Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, immediately below which is the Chapel of the Resurrection of St Lazarus (see page 45), the oldest existing building in Moscow. It is only an obscure crypt, but in one of the round pillars, facing the ikonastas is a niche which probably served as the loge of the reigning prince. The entrance with an old inscription was but recently discovered. The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, dates from 1393, when the Tsaritsa Eudoxia, wife of Dmitri Donskoi, erected the first structure on the side of the older Church of St Lazarus. It was destroyed by lightning in 1414, burned in 1473, fell in 1480, and in 1514 was rebuilt by Vasili Ivanovich, and probably again reconstructed early in the seventeenth century. It then became one of the churches of the palace, and has remained the particular church of the Tsaritsas. The old stoves are of an ancient Russian model; according to tradition the Tsaritisas in bygone days were placed upon one of these stoves during their confinements. The ikonostas was injured in 1812, but has been restored and some of the ikons are richly decorated with rubies and other gems of great value.
Above the lesser Golden Palace is a chapel of small dimensions, known commonly as the “Cathedral of Our Saviour behind the Golden Gates,” actually dedicated to “Our Saviour on High” (Verkhospasski); its other name is due to the fact that the entrance to it is on the far, or private, side of the gilt wicket that barred the entrance to the Terem. It was built in 1635 by the Bajenko Ogurtsev, a Russian architect employed by the Tsar Michael, and was restored by his grandson, Theodore II., and many times subsequently. In the seventeenth century it was the private chapel of the sovereigns. In it the sons of Alexis were baptised; here it was that in times of danger, as during the revolt of the Strelsti (see ch. x. and p. 130) the royal princes sought refuge, and from here Ivan Naryshkin went to his murder by the Strelsti who were clamouring for his head. The church is closed by three doors all modelled after the “gilt wicket”; it possesses a magnificent ikonostas of chiselled silver, the gift of the Countess Soltikov, which marvellously escaped the plunderers of 1812. Its ikons include one of the Saviour, “not made with hands” (v. chapter ix. p. 182), said to have been brought to Moscow in 1472 by Sophia Paleologus, and one of Lupin, the centurion, the patron saint of the Romanofs. There is also an old ikonastas in the adjoining chapel of St John the Baptist. On the north side of the Verkhospasski Church, also on this third storey, is the Seventeenth Century Church of the Resurrection, on the threshold of which, if tradition may be believed, Athanasius Naryshkin was struck down by the Streltsi in 1682. It is lighter than ordinary Russian Churches, lofty, with an ogival vaulted roof and almost entirely covered with frescoes. The western door has representations of the eight Sybils. The mediæval incense-burner suspended in the centre is of foreign, probably Dutch, origin, and apart from its own attractiveness serves well to contrast the great differences in Western and Russian handicraft, for the ikonostas has some excellent relief work. The paintings at the east-end are on a gold ground, at one period a prevalent fashion with Russian ikon painters. The brilliant colouring, the lavish use of gold and silver, and the bright illumination, so unusual in Russian churches, together make this royal chapel one of the most interesting of those in the Kremlin. It was from the corridor leading to this church that the first “Dmitri” is said to have been thrown; the window, which had been blocked up, will be pointed out to the visitor before entering the Chapel of the Crucifixion, which is over this corridor and on the same level as the fourth storey of the Terem. The interior of this chapel is very gloomy; the floor of black and white marble may assist in its recognition. Its most interesting feature is the ikonostas of embroidery, the work of the Tsaritsas and their daughters. The faces of the saints on the ikons are painted upon canvas, and the vestments instead of metal are of worked silk and other tissues. At the entrance is the private oratory of the Tsar Alexis, and amongst other things which will be pointed out as having some connection with the younger members of this Tsar’s family, is the spot upon which he at one time erected a “Golgotha”; the cross is of cedar, pine and cypress, contributed by three princes. This church was built in 1679 and communicates with the “Church of the Holy Vestments,” by the door to the left of the entrance, a piece of work highly characteristic of Russian art at this period.
There are other churches and chapels which are technically private chapels of the palace, as are also the Cathedrals of the Assumption and Annunciation, but these are dealt with elsewhere. Those actually within, or communicating with the Terem, are those above enumerated, and in addition there is the old Chapel of St John the Baptist “in the wood,” now removed to the second floor of the tower over the Borovitski Gate.
The palaces and chapels of the Terem with their many means of communication afforded a secure hiding place, and means of escape would usually be found by reaching one of the churches with their treasuries and subterranean vaults. In the early times it was a capital offence to be found behind the Golden Gate, but two Chamberlains who accidentally encountered the Tsaritsa Natalia in one of the corridors were merely dismissed from office for a single day and reinstated; life was more free and easy in the days of Theodore than ever before in Moscow. The faction intrigues and riots that followed the succession to the throne of his brother Ivan and half-brother Peter were chiefly the result of the unjust treatment of the Streltsi. What took place at the palace is soon stated. Matviev had been recalled; the Naryshkins and Miloslavskis, the relatives of the first and second wives of the late Tsar Alexis, were opposed to each other; the son of each wife sat on the throne; Peter, the younger, had his mother to protect him; Ivan, the elder, his sister Sophia. It was too good an opportunity for deciding the supremacy of the Miloslavskis, and they having caused it to be reported that Ivan’s life was in jeopardy, the Streltsi advanced to the Kremlin crying “Death to those who oppose royalty! Death to all traitors!” Before the gates could be closed they were in the Kremlin, and with pikes, halberds, and partisans thronging the state entrance and the square of the palace itself. They wished to be sure that both Tsars were well: they wanted the lives of the Matvievs and Naryshkins if Ivan was not. Matviev momentarily saved the situation. He went with Natalia, who led the Tsars one by each hand out on to the terrace before the infuriated mob. “By God’s mercy both are well as you see,” he said, and added words that soothed the mob, but all too soon he retired following Natalia into the palace. Dolgorooki, the head of the Streltsi, then turned to the rioters and ordered them to be gone. He irritated them by his address; some seized him and threw him over the balustrade, and those below caught him on their pikes. Another troop, partisans of Sophia, were searching for Matviev, dragged him from the presence of the ex-Tsaritsa and near Blagovieshchenski Sobor he too was thrown on to the pikes of the Streltsi in the square below, and they were not content merely with killing now, but cut his body in morsels. Three days later, a faithful black servant ventured forth and collected the remains for burial. The rioters having now committed two crimes reverted to their original determination to settle with those opposed to Ivan. They wished particularly for the uncles of Peter, Ivan and Athanasius Naryshkin—they mistook Soltikov for him, and the man, too frightened even to pronounce his own name, was slain. A dwarf of the Tsaritsa’s led the rioters to the hiding place of Athanasius—the altar of one of the churches, and they killed him where they found him, and threw the body out into the square. The mutiny lasted several days: the Streltsi could not find Ivan Naryshkin or Van Gaden the doctor. The third day they again went to the palace and demanded that Ivan should be given up to them. Natalia pleaded for the life of her brother, the boyards fearing for their own lives besought her to give him up, and at last she consented. He made his last confession, and, attended by Natalia and Sophia, carried the ikon of the virgin before him. Hurried by the impatient boyards he courageously left the chapel, and crossing the threshold of the Golden Gates was at once seized by the Streltsi waiting him and dragged to torture and execution, and this satisfied the rioters for the time.
Richly carved doors, of a type truly Muscovite and mediæval, lead from the Holy Corridor to the larger Golden Hall of the Granovitaia Palace. This building is the work of two Italians, Marco Ruffo, and Pietro Antonio, at the close of the fifteenth century, and has its name of “Facetted” Palace from the trimming of the stone blocks of the external walls to imitate some earlier ornate wooden building. The large Hall is the old throne room of the Tsars Vasili, Ivan “Groznoi” and Boris Godunov. The old custom of a state banquet on the day of the coronation is still observed. On this occasion, as in olden times, the Tsar is seated at a table with such other reigning sovereigns as may be present; his near relations are by etiquette still excluded from the room, and view the ceremony from the small window near the ceiling, immediately opposite the “Krasnœ Ugol” or throne. Around the central pillar which supports the vaulted roof, the “mountain” is placed on which the Imperial plate is displayed on state occasions, just as it was in the days of Herberstein, Jenkinson, and the early ambassadors to the Muscovite Court. Here, too, Ivan “Groznoi” received the Khan’s emissaries and the rusty knife his victorious enemy had sent him that he might cut his own throat; here for three days he regaled his companions after the fall of Kazan: here Boris Godunov entertained the Danish Prince, suitor for the hand of the Tsarevna Xenia; here, in 1653, Alexis received the submission of Bogdan Khmelnitski and the cession of Little Russia. Peter I. also celebrated herein his victory over Charles XII. at Poltava, and in 1767, Catherine II. confided to the delegates the celebrated “Nakaz” for the compilation of the new code of law. Its present condition closely resembles its primitive aspect, traces of Peter the Great’s vandalism having been removed; the walls uncovered; the paintings restored; the windows refitted; and older furnishings substituted for the tapestry and decorations of Peter and his successors. The paintings, as the inscription states, were made in 1882 by two “brothers Bieloosov, ikon painters, peasants of the village of Palekha.” Chancellor and his companions when ushered into the Golden Palace encountered Ivan the Terrible. “The Russian Tsar, sitting on a lofty couch, arrayed in robes of silver, and now wearing a different diadem. In the middle of the room stood a huge abacus with a square pedestal, surmounted with a succession of orbicular tiers, which regularly tapered towards the culminating point, and was adorned with such profusion of plate and costly rarities that it was almost overburdened with the great weight of them, and the greater part were of the choicest gold. Four vases, conspicuous by their size, served specially to enhance the splendour of the other golden vessels, for they were nearly five feet in height. Four tables, placed separately on each side of the hall and raised to the height of three steps above the floor, were bespread with the very finest napery and attended by a numerous company.” One thing which surprised Chancellor was the great reverence shown the Tsar when he spoke, by the whole company “rising simultaneously and bending low their bodies with a sort of gesture of adoration, silently resume their seats.”
The Terem is a building of five storeys, each higher one smaller than any below and the topmost but a single room, with a porch leading to the flat roof from which, before blocked by the Great Palace, a splendid view was obtainable. The ground floor was built early in the sixteenth century, but serves now for storerooms only, and the one above, reached by a door under the staircase, consists of a private suite formerly the workrooms of the palace and now utilised for the preservation of old charters. The staircase with carved stone steps is separated from the palace by the “gilt-wicket” which formerly divided the private from the state and court rooms of the palace. It is of a quite ordinary design when compared with the much more elaborate wrought metal-work found elsewhere in the palaces and churches of the Kremlin. The first room reached was originally the “vestibule,” but serves now as a breakfast-room; the cases contain the old seals of the Kingdom; the walls and vaulted roof covered with pictures and the stove of fine old glazed Russian tiles, a variety of faience the secret of whose manufacture has been lost. Near to this room is the Council Chamber, and, further, what originally served as the private room of the Tsars, but was latterly used as a throne room. In the bronze casket is the deed of election which appointed Mikhail Theodorovich to the throne. In the “Krasnœ Ugol,” or “Grand Corner,” is the seat of the Tsar Alexis with a carpet before it, the handiwork of his daughters. The window adjoining is that from which Dmitri, and other rulers, lowered the basket for the petitions of all and sundry who wished directly to communicate with the Tsar. Adjoining this room is a bedroom, once occupied by the unfortunate Tsarevich Alexis Petrovich. The oratory has two ikons which formerly belonged to the Tsar Alexis, as did also the cross. The belvedere reached by either of two separate staircases, was built by the Tsar Michael for the accommodation of his children, and in later reigns may have been used as a council chamber for the “duma” of the boyards. The Tsars Alexis and Theodore II. were brought up in the Terem; Peter the Great occupied it only occasionally, chiefly before his travels abroad, and his son Alexis was its last regal inmate.
“The early Romanofs practically shared their rule with the Patriarch, and church services and pageants entered largely into their every day life. The Tsar would be awakened at about 4 A.M. and at once enter his oratory for private devotion; a quarter of an hour later he prayed before the ikon of the saint whose day it might be, and then sent one of his attendants to inquire as to the health of the Tsaritsa and, later, might himself attend her in the vestibule and accompany her to matins in one of the chapels of the palace. Boyards and others awaited his return for instructions in matters of state, and at nine o’clock the Tsar attended high mass either in one of the churches or cathedrals of the Kremlin, or upon fête days wherever the ceremony was necessarily performed. Mass
