Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

OF BUILDINGS AND BUILDERS.307

by the busy gaieties of that city. This work is a brief review of the reign of Ivan IV., the tyrant par excellence, and the soul of the Kremlin : not that he built that fortress, but he was born there, he died there, and his spirit still haunts the spot.

Its plan was conceived and executed by his grand-sire Ivan III. I have done my best to give an idea of the place itself, and I will now endeavour to aid the description by painting the colossal figures of the men who were its habitants. If from the arrangements of a house we can form a judgment as to the character of its inhabitants, can we not also, by an analogous operation of mind, picture to ourselves the aspect of edifices by a study of the men for whom they were constructed ? Our passions, our habits, our genius, are powerful enough to engrave themselves indelibly on the very stones of our dwellings.

Assuredly, if there be any building to which may be applied such a process of the imagination, it is the Kremlin. Europe and Asia are there seen united, under the influence of the genius of the Lower Empire.

Whether the fortress be viewed under a purely historical, or a poetical and picturesque aspect, it is the most national monument in Russia, and consequently the most interesting both for Russians and for foreigners.

This sanctuary of despotism was re-constructed in stone for Ivan III., in 1485, by two Italian architects, Marco and Pietro Antonio, who were invited to Moscow by the Great Prince *, when he wished to

* The title then given to the grand dukes of Moscow.