Room 2: Weapons.—Chiefly fire-arms used in Russia from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century arranged chronologically, of which those in cases XVIII and XIX are the most interesting; in the cases XVI and XVIII will be found the weapons of foreign manufacture, among them the sporting gun presented to the Tsar Mikhail in 1619 by Fabian Smith; against the wall are the guns the monks of St Sergius used to defend the monastery at Troitsa against the Poles in 1609; below these the saddle of Prince Pojarski. Among the standards around the pillars are the sacred colours carried by Dmitri at Kulikovo, of Ivan the Terrible against Kazan (No 59), of Alexis Mikhailovich against the Poles (No 24), of the Streltsi, of Peter the Great’s first regiment of marines (No 1), and the lion and unicorn with which Yermak conquered Siberia. The helmets of Kosma Minin, Prince Pojarski, of Nikita Romanof, Yaroslaf II., and Alexander Nevski.
Room 3: Trophies.—Modern.
Room 4: Regalia.—The twelfth century crown of Vladimir Monomachus; the sixteenth century crown of the Tsars of Kazan; that of Ivan Alexievich (1680) and of Mikhail Theodorovich, the Imperial crown, that of Georgia, globes, sceptres—note particularly the beautiful workmanship from the conquered kingdom of Georgia—and the orb reputed to have been presented by Basil and Constantine in 988, together with the golden chain collar and piece of the “true cross.” Among these insignia, most curious are the Barmi, metal collars worn at the coronation, of which one of the earliest has the eagle, lion, griffin, and unicorn—Byzantine symbols—and excellent coloured enamel, but said to have been remade by a Moscow goldsmith in the sixteenth century. The thrones include that of ivory brought to Russia in 1472 by Sophia Paleologus; Persian throne sent to Boris Godunov, in 1605, it is studded with more than 2000 gems; the double throne of the Tsars Ivan and Peter was made at Hamburg and is so constructed that the curtain at the back might screen the Tsarevna Sophia who used to station herself there either to watch or prompt her young brothers. In a casket is the code of the Tsar Alexis on sheets of parchment.
Room 5: Plate.—To the left on entering are the enamel ware, metal, wood, ivory, and glass, household plate of Russian manufacture in the seventeenth century of which the best are those of coloured enamel and niello. The loving cup presented by the patriarch Nikon to the Tsar Alexis; a ring of the unfortunate Eudoxia (wife of Peter I.) and a number of more or less uninteresting objects of that monarch’s period; and a fine numismatic collection that will attract the enthusiast.
Ground Floor: Carriages and Harness.—The state chariot sent to Boris Godunov by Queen Elizabeth, carriages with mica windows, closed carriages of the Tsaritsas, the miniature conveyance of the young prince Peter, some relics of Napoleon; portraits of the sovereigns of Russia, and the model of the palace with which Catherine II. intended to cover the Kremlin; of the old palace at Kolomenskœ. There also is the only portrait of Maria Mniszek, and a picture representing her marriage with the false Dmitri.
Golden Moscow extended far beyond the Kremlin; one of its most characteristic corners is the Vosskresenski Vorot, where stands the little chapel sacred to the Iberian Mother of God, the exact copy of a most venerable ikon, brought in 1648 from Mount Athos, for which this chapel was erected by the Tsar Alexis. The picture shows a scratch on the right cheek, the work of an infidel, who was converted by seeing the blood that instantly exuded from the wound. The adornments are a brilliant crown, with a veil of pearls, a large gem on the brow, another on the shoulder; gold brocade with enamelled plaques representing angels’ heads, and the usual lavish decoration of the vestments, complete this unusual ikon, which is probably the most venerated of any in Moscow. The chapel is exceedingly rich and always surrounded by worshippers; thirteen silver chandeliers with tapers are always burning before the ikonostas, and to this day the Tsar on visiting Moscow dismounts at this chapel before entering the Kremlin. The architecture of the wall and gate is a modification of the Russian style of the 16th century as influenced by the purely utilitarian or military style of Podolia and north-east Germany, but the spires that crown the old square towers are of a later date and are probably due to the love of the Tsar Alexis for the Gothic which he tried in vain to blend with the heavy low wooden models of early Russia. The buildings of this period are mostly characterised by the quaint mixture of Lombard and Gothic, but there is one fragment, the ruins of the archiepiscopal palace at the Krutitski, which exhibits the more ornate style then considerably followed for “Halls,” in which the influence of Byzantium predominates. The Krutitski monastery was first established within the Kremlin, but many centuries ago was transferred to the suburbs near the Krasnœ Kholmski Bridge, where the remains of the seventeenth century “dwelling” of the metropolitan may now be seen serving as the gateway to the entrance of a barracks. It is fronted with glazed tiles of many colours, yellow and green are the most conspicuous, and of many shapes. The window casements are purely Byzantine, but the vaulted archways and the roof are as markedly Russian. Only its outer side has been left in its original state, with the quaint designs, particularly that of the “Busy Bee,” glaring from the gaudy tiles; the other side, that within the courtyard, is now covered with the usual distemper (v. p. 122).
Doubtless much of the fine work on other buildings that have survived the fires of the past two centuries is similarly hidden beneath plaster and many coatings of thick body colour, but it is unlikely that it will be discovered until the old buildings themselves are in course of demolition, so this one perfect example, which is but little known and seldom visited, may be regarded as the sole existing memorial of that school of Greeks and Byzantines which so powerfully influenced Muscovite construction during the reigns of Alexis and Theodore II.
The literary culture was derived from Poland, and is not remarkable for strength or beauty: Slavinietski confined himself to dogma; the many-sided Polotsi, artist, administrator, pedagogue and poet, wrote several volumes, and helped in the adaptation of old-world stories for dramatic representation. In addition to several plays such as “The Prodigal Son,” “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego” and “Esther,” which
