Born to Command

We were shown in another room the saddles of Catherine II.  We had seen in another room a portrait of this singular woman, in her favorite manner of appearing before her guards, mounted and dressed as a man, and really she looked as if she were born to command.  Her saddles were completely covered with jewels and certainly very rich, but do not now seem so much so, since I have seen the magnificent ones presented by the father to the Emperor.  Below we were shown several old state carriages & sleighs made at different times and in different countries, driven in things they [covered], almost like a parlor with sofas, mirrors &c within, and requiring some two dozen horses to draw them.  In still another room we were shown the model of a building which Catherine II intended once to have [43] enclosed the whole of the Kremlin with—which project however she abandoned as man others of the same kind, well, perhaps for her purse, as it certainly was for the beauty of Moscow.  It was a great piece of work and if carried out according to the model must have cost an immense amount of money.  

The Great Bell and the Crown Room of the Kremlin

Ivan the Great Bell Tower and Archangel Cathedral

Our next visit was to the old Tartar Palace comprising now only two or three small rooms but most richly furnished, the windows filled with most beautiful stained glass and the floors handsomely inlaid.  They [40] are kept in the same order as when occupied by the Tartar Kings. We started now to take a look-out from the tower of St. John’s. In going to it we passed the great Bell, the largest ever cast.  Its size is prodigious, and can scarcely be imagined from its dimensions being given.   It is some 24 feet in height, and four in thickness in the largest part.  It is now placed upon a pedestal, with the piece which was broken out of it in its fall caused by fire lying alongside.  This piece is more than six ft high through small enough in appearance when beside this huge mass.  It had remained a great while buried in the Earth when it fell till lately raised to its present situation by the present Emperor.  After obgaining a fine view of the city from Ivan’s Tower, which has a number of very large bells suspended in different parts, we proceeded to the Treasury of the [41] Kremlin, containing great riches and many interesting articles.  We were met by the General who was remarkablh polite to us as Americans, and seemed somewhat surprised that we should have come so far to see Moscow.  We entered through one or two rooms containing old armor &c somewhat after the manner of the Tower of London, to the crown room, containing the crowns of all the kings and princes that have ever owned fealty to Russia, [illeg.], &c, and amongst others the crown and throne of Poland and the scepter of Stanislaus.  The riches & curiosities were all visited by us in one course and we passed out through the same room that we entered by.  When we saw placed under a portrait of Emperor Alexander, a small box containing the Constitution of Poland and above the box, were placed a bunch of keys some half dozen in number, belonging [42] also to fated Poland.  

The churches of the Kremlin

Bands [37] of Music men stationed in the grounds, and the fine looking mounted troops of the Emperor were stationed there to preserve order.  In the buildings of the Park some were amusing themselves with dancing thus in promenading and others still in looking at the illuminations and fire-works.  We returned home soon afterward and the next morning taking a guide, started out in a carriage to the Kremlin & its curiosities.  I never could learn with certainty the meaning of the word Kremlin.  It is I believe a [Slav?] word, and by some is said to be a Palace, and by others “The Holy Place.”  Whatever is the real meaning of the name however it in reality in itself comprises a great deal, being within the walls encircling it, a congregation of Palaces, Towers, Mosques, Churches, [illeg.].   From the Environs of the City this singular assemblage of singular & beautiful objects rises conspicuous, and is the first place visited as a matter of course [38] by the stranger.  On our entrance within one of its many gateways, guarded by sentinels, we visited one of the Churches.  Strikingly singular in appearance, and yet at the first glance so strangely reminding one of San Marco of Venice inasmuch as this has its whole sides & walls covered with pictures of the many saints of the Greek Church, covered in the usual manner with dresses of gold & silver ornaments, leaving only the few hands & feet visible.  As we entered, the priests were in the midst of Mass.  The church was crowded with rich & poor, some looking carelessly about, others kneeling and touching the marble pavement with their foreheads.  The priests of the Greek Church are in their general appearance a more cleanly racae at least than those of the Catholic (Roman) well dressed, and universally with long beards, moustache & carrying in their hands a long goldheaded baton, and dressed in [39]some dark colored frock bound tight around the waist.  The Church as we entered was filled with incense, and the choir (without instruments) singing in as fine a manner as I have ever heard out of St. Peter’s.  We remained till the music was over and passed out to visit one or more of the churches within the walls.  The next we entered was in a great degree similar to the one first visited, though not as rich, but the more interesting, as containing the tombs of the Tartar Tsars.  They were all arranged on either side of the Entrance in rows, being nothing more than small sarcophagi or stone-coffins, with a Persian pall thrown over each one.