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VIEWS FROM A TRIP AROUND THE WORLD
#44 - MOSCOW

Size: 3" x 5"
Copyrighted: 1891
Lithographer: Joseph P. Knapp

Moscow, Russia - Church of St. Basil; Kremlin; Sacred Gate
Illustrations: An Inn Keeper; Church of St. Basil; The Kremlin Moscow; A Working Girl; The Sacred Gate

Reverse - Text
Left section: GRIND YOUR COFFEE AT HOME
Right section:
MOSCOW, RUSSIA.
Moscow, the ancient metropolis of the Russian empire, is on the banks of the Moskva River, which contributes its waters by the channel of the Oka to the great stream of the Volga. 1147 was the date of its foundation. Although circular in shape, in arrangement it is one of the most irregular cities in the world. The design was still more irregular prior to the great conflagration of 1812, which so seriously effected the destiny of Napoleon I. At that time it presented extreme contrasts of palaces alternating with huts.
In the heart of the city stands the celebrated Kremlin or citadel, two miles in circuit. The enclosure is crowded with palaces, churches, monasteries, arsenals, museums, and a great variety of buildings in which the Tartar style of architecture, with gilded domes and cupolas, predominates. The best point of view is from the Moskva Rekoi bridge, which crosses the river south of the Kremlin. The foundation of the citadel was laid in stone by Demetrius of the Don, in 1367. Within this enclosure, whose walls (capped by 18 towers) form a vast triangle, are nearly all the interesting sights of Moscow. It is entered by five gates, the two most important being the Spiasski Vorata or "Redeemer's Gate," and the Nikolsky or "St. Nicholas Gate," to each of which a tradition is attached. From earliest times, a picture of the Saviour has hung over the former--an object of the greatest reverence to every Russian, from the Emperor to the lowest peasant, no one daring to pass under it without removing his hat. Through this gate all Russia's returning heroes have passed in triumph. The French tried to remove the picture, thinking the frame to be of solid gold, but, as the story goes, every ladder placed against the wall broke in two.
The cathedral Church of St. Basil the Beatified--Vassili-Blagennoy or Church of the Protection of Mary--was built by Ivan the Terrible, in 1554. It stands in a very conspicuous place, and has no less than 20 domes and towers, each of which is of different design and gilded and painted in a marvelous variety of style and color.
Population 1884, 753,469.