The Kremlin is at the same time a fortress and a city contained
within itself, with its streets and palaces, churches, monasteries,
and barracks. Eighteen towers and five gateways garnish the long
extent of the inclosing wall; two of the gateways are interesting;
that of the Saviour built by Pietro Solario in 1491, and that of
the Trinity by Christopher Galloway in the Seventeenth Century.
Here, among the churches are those of the Assumption and of St.
Michael; here are the new palace of the Tsar, the restored Terem
(what is left of the old palace), the sacristy and library of the
patriarchs, the treasure and regalia, the great tower of Ivan Veliki
in which hangs the largest bell in the world that will ring, and
beneath it the "Tsar Kolokol," the king of bells, which it is supposed
has never been rung and the king of cannons which has never been
fired.
The ancient "Kazna," or treasury of the Kremlin, where the riches
of the Tsars have been preserved from time immemorial was in the
reign of Ivan III. situated within the walls of the Kremlin, between
the Cathedrals of St. Michael and of the Annunciation. Here it
remained until the great fire of 1737. The treasure had already
suffered a heavy loss: in the early part of the Seventeenth Century,
at the time of the war with Poland, a large quantity of plate was
melted down to provide for the payment of the troops. The fire
of 1737 caused a further and greater loss and destroyed also a
large part of the armoury. At the time of the French invasion in
1812 the whole of the treasure, together with the regalia, was
removed to Novgorod, and thus escaped destruction of seizure. On
its return to Moscow in 1814, systematic arrangements were made
for its preservation, and for the formation and arrangement of
the museum in which it is now exhibited. In the year 1850 the new
building of the Orujenaia Palata which forms part of the modern
palace of the Kremlin was completed, and to this the entire collection
was transferred.
The treasury of Moscow has been almost from the time of the
establishment of the Russian Empire the place where the riches
of the Tsars have been kept; consisting of the regalia, of the
state costumes, of the plate and vases used in the service of their
table, of their most magnificent armour and horse-trappings, of
their state carriages and sledges and of the presents which from
time to time the sovereigns of other countries sent through their
ambassadors, of whose embassies so many interesting accounts have
come down to us.
The collection of plate is exposed on open stands arranged in tiers
round the pillars, or otherwise displayed in a vast hall of the
new building of the Orujenaia Palata.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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