MOSCOW
Encyclopedia Britannica
11th Edition, Vol 18 pp. 891-94
Prince Peter Alexeivitch Kropotkin
John Thomas Bealby
MOSCOW, (Russian Moskva). the second capital of the Russian empire, and
chief town of the government of the same name, in 55 degrees 45 min. N - and 37
degrees 37 min. E., on both banks of the river Moskva, a tributary of the Oka.
It is by rail 400 m. from St Petersburg, 1017 from Odessa, and 814 from Warsaw.
It lies to the north of the most densely peopled parts of Russia (the
black-earth region ), whilst the country to the north of it is rather thinly
people as far as the Volga, and very sparsely beyond that. The space between
the middle Oka and the Volga, however, was the cradle of the Great-Russian
nationality (Novgorod and Pskov excluded); and four or five centuries ago
Moscow had a quite central position with regard to that region.
The present city covers an area of 32 sq. m. (about 40 when the suburbs are
included). In the center, on the left bank of the Moskva. stands the Kreml or
Kremlin, occupying the Borovitsky hill. To the cast of the Kremlin is the
Kitai-Gorod, formerly the Great Posad, the chief center of trade. The
Byelyi-Gorod, which was formerly enclosed by a stone wall (whence the
name),surrounds the Kremlin and the Kitai-Gorod on the west, north, and
north-east. A line of boulevards now occupies the place of its wall (destroyed
in the 18th century), and forms a first circle of streets round the center of
Moscow.
The Zernlyanoy-Gorod (earthen enclosure) surrounds the Byelyi-Gorod,
including the Zamoskvoryechie on the right bank of the Moskva. The earthen wall
and palisade that formerly enclosed it no longer exist. their place being taken
by a series of broad streets with gardens on both sides - the Sadovaya. or
Gardens Street. The fourth enclosure (the Kamer College earthen wall) was made
during the reign of Catherine II; it is of irregular shape, and encloses the
outer parts of Moscow, whilst the suburbs and the villages which have sprung up
on the highways extend some miles beyond.
The Kremlin is an old fort of pentagonal (nearly triangular) shape, about
100 acres in extent, occupying a hill 130 ft. above the level of the Moskva. It
is enclosed by a high stone battlemented wall 2430 yds. in length, restored
during the 19th century, and having nineteen towers. Its five gates are
surmounted by towers and arc all noteworthy. The Spaskiya (Saviors) Gate was
erected in 1491 by a Milanese architect; the Gothic tower (203 ft.) that
surmounts it was added in 1626 by the English architect, Holloway. A sacred
picture of the Savior (the palladium of Moscow ) was placed upon it. in 1647,
and all who pass through the gate uncover. The towers surmounting the other
four gates were erected by order of Ivan III. Of the sacred buildings of the
Kremlin the most venerated is the Uspenskiy cathedral. The former church of
this name was erected in 1326 by the tsar, Ivan Kalita, but, on its falling
into disrepair, a new one was built on the same place in 1475-1479, by the
Bolognese architect, Fioraventi, in the Lombardo-Byzantine style, with Indian
cupolas. It was restored each time after being pillaged or burnt in 1493, 1547,
1682 and 1812. It contains the oldest and most venerated holy pictures in
Russia, one of which is attributed to the Metropolitan Peter, another to St
Luke. The cathedral possesses; also the throne of Vladimir I, and numerous
relics of saints, some of which date from the 14th century. The Russian
Metropolitan and patriarchs were consecrated in this cathedral, as well as the
tsars after Ivan IV. The Archangel cathedral, on the opposite side of the
square, was originally built in 1333, and a new one was erected in its place in
1505-1508. It contains the tombs of the tsars from Ivan Kalita (1340) to Ivan
Alexeivich (1696), and possesses vast wealth. The Blagovyeshchensk cathedral,
recalling the churches of Mount Athos (in Turkey), was first built in 1397,
rebuilt in 1484-1489, and restored in 1883-1896; the remarkable pictures of
Rublev (1405) are still preserved. It was the private chapel of the tsars, and
in it they are baptized and married. Vestiges of a very old church, that of the
Savior in the Wood, contemporaneous with the foundation of Moscow, still exist
in the yard of the palace. A stone church took the place of the old wooden
structure in 1330, and was rebuilt in 1527. The Vozncsensky Convent, erected In
1389-1393, and restored in the end of the 19th century, is the burial-place of
wives and sisters of the tsars. The Chudov monastery, erected in 1358Ä1365
and rebuilt in 1771, was the residence of the metropolitan of Moscow and a
state prison.
Close by, the great campanile of Ivan Veliky, erected in the Lombardo-Byzantine
style by Boris Godunov, in 1600, rises to the height of 271 ft. (318 ft.
including the cross), and contains many bells, one of which weighs 64 tons.
Close by is the well-known Tsar-Kolokol (king of the bells), 65 ft. in
circumference round the rim, 19 ft. high, and weighing 198.5 tons. It was cast
in 1735, and broken during the fire of 1737 before being hung. The treasury of
the patriarchs in the campanile of Ivan Veliky contains not only such articles
of value as the, sakkos (episcopal robes) of the metropolitan with 70,000
pearls, but also very remarkable monuments of Russian archaeology.
The library has 500 Greek and 1000 very rare Russian MSS., including a Gospel
of the 8th century. The great palace of the tsars, erected in 1838-1849, is a
fine building in white stone with a gilded cupola. It contains the terems, or
rooms erected by Tsar Michael Fyodorovich for the young princes his sons in
1636 (restored in 1836-1849, their former character being maintained), a
remarkable memorial of the domestic life of the tsars in the 17th century. ln
the treasury of the tsars, in the Orujeynaya Palata, now public museums, the
richest stores connected with old Russian archaeology are preserved crowns,
thrones, dresses, various articles of house-hold furniture belonging to the
tsars, Russian and Mongolian arms, carriages, &c. The Granovitaya Palata,
another wing of the great palace, consists of a single-vaulted apartment built
in 1473-1490, and is used as a state banqueting hall. The four sides of the
Senate Square are occupied by buildings of various dates, from the 15th century
onwards. Among them is the imposing senate, now the law courts, erected by
Catherine 11. (1771-1785). Facing it is the arsenal (1701-1736). The temple of
the Saviour, begun in 1817 in commemoration of the events of the French
campaign of 1812, was abandoned in 1827, and a new one was built during
1838-1883 on a hill on the bank of the Moskva, at a short distance from the
Kremlin. Its style is Lombardo-Byzantine, with modifications suggested by the
military taste of Nicholas I.
The Kitay-Gorod, which covers 121 acres, is the chief commercial quarter of
Moscow. It contains the new bazaars, a triple block of buildings erected in
1888-1893 in sandstone, at a cost of over £1,630,800, and the Gostinoy
Dvor, consisting of several stone buildings divided into 1000 shops. The Red
Square, 900 yds. long, with a stone tribunal in the middle, which was formerly
the forum, market cross and place of execution separates the bazaar from the
Kremlin. At its lower end stands the fantastic Pokrovsky Cathedral (usually
known as Vasili Blazlìeiìiiyi), one of the wonders of Moscow, on
account of its towers, all differing from each other and representing, in their
variety of colours, pine-apples, melons and the like. It was begun by Ivan the
Terrible in 1554 to commemorate the conquest of Kazan, but not completed until
1679. It was plundered and desecrated hy the French in 1812, but restored in
1839-1845. The exchange, built in 1838 and restored in 1873, is very lively,
and its exchange artels (associations of nearly 2000 brokers) are worthy of
remark. Banks, houses of great commercial firms, streets full of old book-shops
carrying on a very large trade, and finally the Tolkuchy rynok, the
market of the poorest dealers in old clothes, occupy the Kitay-Gorod, side by
side with restaurants of the highest class. In this quarter are also situated
the house of the Romanovs, the reigning dynasty of Russia, rebuilt and
refurnished in 1859 in exact conformity with its former shape; and the
printing-office of the synod of the Orthodox Greek Church, founded in 1563 and
containing about 600 MSS. and 10,000 very old printed books, together with a
typographical museum. At the entrance to the Kitay-Gorod stands the chapel of
the highly venerated Virgin of Iberia, a copy made in 1648, of a holy picture
placed on the chief gate of the monastery of Mt Athos. The northern parts of
the Byelyi-Gorod are also the centre of a lively trade. Here are situated the
Okhotnyi Ryad (poultry and game market) and the streets Tverskaya,
Petrovka and Kuznetsky-Most the rendezvous of the world of fashion. Here also
are the theatres, the industrial art museum, imperial bank (1894), and
Rozhdestvensky convent (founded in 1386). In the south-west of the
Byelyi-Gorod, opposite the Alexander Garden on the west side of the Kremlin,
stand the university (see below), Museum of domestic industries, Rumyantsev
Museum and the church of the Redeemer. This last, built in the form of a Greek
cross in 1837-1883 at a cost of nearly £1,600,000, is dominated by five
gilded domes and faced externally with marble. The interior is harmoniously
decorated with gold and marble, and adorned with pictures by Vereschagin and
other Russian artists. In the east of the city are three monasteries all dating
from the 14th century. The Zemlyanoy-Gorod, which has arisen from villages that
surrounded Moscow, exhibits varied characteristics. In the neighbourhood of the
railway stations it has busy centres of traffic; other parts are manufacturing
quarters, whilst others - for instance, the small quiet streets on the west of
the boulevard Prechistenka, called the old Koiiushennaya, with their wooden
houses and spacious courtyards - are the true abodes of the families of the
old, for the most part decayed, but still proud, nobility. The Zamoskvoryechie,
on the right bank of the Moskva, is the abode of the patriarchal merchant
families.
The climate of Moscow is cold and continental, but healthy. The average
annual temperature is 40.1 degrees F. (Jan., 14·; - July, 66.5·).
The summer is warm (64.2·), and the winter cold and dry (15.8·),
great masses of snow lying in the streets. The spring, as is usually the case
in cold continental climates, is beautiful. The prevailing winds are south-west
and south. The river Moskva is frozen, on the average, for 153 days (from Nov.
12 to April 13). The Moskva is crossed by five bridges; a branch of it, or
rather a channel, makes an elongated island in the middle of the city. Water of
excellent quality, principally from the Mytishchi springs and pounds, 11m.
distant, has since 1893; been led to fountains in different parts of the city,
whence it is distributed by watermen.
The population was estimated at only 150,000 in the middle of the 18th
century, and at 250,000 in 1812. Since 1870 it has been growing at the rate of
about 2.5 % per annum; (1872), 601,969; (1882),753,469 (1902), 1,092,360, or
including the suburbs 1,173,427; (est. 1907),1,359,254. The housing problem is
of great importance in Moscow, as it appears that over 10% of the domiciles are
underground. And while the average for the city is two occupants to each room,
there are more than 10,000 domiciles which have more than four occupants to
each room, representing one-fourth of the population. The average mortality is
consequently high, namely 28 per 1000 (33 per 1000 if the children inmates of
the Foundling House be included). Fires occur very frequently. The inhabitants
are mostly Great- Russians. They belong chiefly to the Orthodox Greek Church,
or are Nonconformists; the Lutherans number 2% and the Roman Catholics 1%.
Since the 14th century Moscow has been an important commercial city. About
the end of the 15th century its princes transported to Moscow, Vladimir, and
other Russian towns no fewer than 18,000 of the richest Novgorod merchant
families, and took over the entire trade of that city, entering into direct
relations with Narva and Livonía. The annexation of Kazan (1552) and the
conquest of Siberia (1580-1600) gave a new importance to Moscow, bringing it
into direct commercial relations with Khiva, Bokhara and China, and supplying
it with Siberian furs. The fur-trade had a great fascination for all European
merchants in the 16th century, and an English company, having received the
monopoly of the Archangel trade, caused their merchandise to be sent by the
White Sea instead of by the Baltic. Moscow thus became the center for nearly
the entire trade of Russia, and the tsar himself engaged in large commercial
operations. Situated at the intersection of six important highways, Moscow was
the storehouse and exchange- mart for the merchandise of Europe and Asia. The
opening of the port at St. Petersburg affected its commercial interest
unfavourably at first, but the Asiatic trade and internal trade of Moscow have
since then enormously increased. Here are concentrated the traffic in grain, in
hemp and in oils sent to the Baltic ports; in tea, brought both by way of
Siberia and of St Petersburg; in sugar, refined here in large quantities; in
grocery wares for the supply of more than half Russia and all Siberia; in
tallow, skins, wool, metals, timber, wooden wares, iron and steel goods, wine,
drugs, raw cotton, silk and all other produce of the manufactures of middle
Russia. As a railway centre the city plays so predominant a part that 1/6 to1/5
of all the goods carried by the railways of European Russia are loaded or
unloaded at Moscow. The banks, including the rnortgage banks, are the most
important in Russia.
From the 15th century onwards the villages around Moscow were renowned for
the variety of small industries which they carried on; the first large
manufactures in cottons, woollen fabrics, silk, china and glass in Great-Russia
were established at Moscow in the 17th and 18th centuries. After 1830, in
consequence of protection tariffs, the rnanufactories in the government of
Moscow rapidly increased in number; but two-thirds of them are now concentrated
in the capital. Moscow is in fact the principal manufacturing city in the
empire, employing about 100,000 operatives in her mills and factories. Nearly
one-half of them are engaged in the textile industries, especially
calico-printing. Next in importance comes the preparation of food-stuffs,
followed by the metal and metallurgical industries and the chemical works.
Moscow has many educational institutions and scientific societies. The
university, founded in 1753, exercised a powerful influence on the intellectual
life of Russia during the years 1830-1848; and it still continues to be the
most frequented Russian university. In 1904 it had over 5000 students, who
mostly poor. The library contains some 286,000 volumes, has rich collections in
mineralogy, geology and zoology. Among the museums the Rumyantsev, now
connected with the so-called public museum, occupies the first rank. It
contains library of 700,000 volumes and 2300 MSS., remarkable collections of
old pictures, sculptures and prints, as well as an extensive mineralogical
collection, and an ethnographical collection representing very accurately the
various races of Russia. The private museum of Prince Golitsin contains a good
collection of paintings and MSS. The Shchukin Museum contains Russian
antiquities, pictures and objects of industrial art. A number of excellent free
libraries have been opened, two of them containing valuable collections of
books and MSS. The remarkable Tretyakov gallery of pictures, chiefly of the
Russian school, has been presented (1892) by its owner to the city. The
philanthropic institutions include the vast foundling hospital (1764). The
municipal relief of the poor was entirely reorganized in 1894, partly on the
Elberfeld system and partly on quite new and original lines. Moscow is
surrounded by beautiful parks and picturesque suburbs. Of the former one of the
most frequented is the Petrovsky Park, to the north-west, with a castle built
in 1776, burnt by the French in 1812, but rebuilt in 1840. A little farther out
is the Petrovskoye Razumovskoye estate, with an agricultural academy (1865) and
its dependencies (botanical garden, experimental farm, &c.). Another large
park and wood surround an imperial palace (1796) in the village of Ostankino.
The private estates of Kuzminski, Kuskovo and Kuntsevo are also surrounded by
parks; the last has remains of a very old graveyard, supposed to belong to the
pagan period. In the south-west, on the right bank of the Moskva, which here
makes a great loop to the south, are the Vorobyevy hills, which are accessible
by steamer from Moscow, and afford one of the best views of the capital. In the
loop of the Moskva is situated the Novo-Dyevichy or Virgins convent, erected in
1524 and connected with Sophia, sister of Peter the Great, and many events of
Russian history. In the south, on the road to Serpukhov, is the village of
Kolomenskoye, founded in 1237, a favourite residence of Ivan the Terrible and
Peter the Great, with a church built in 1337, a striking monument of Russian
architecture, restored in 1880. The monastery Nikolo-Ugryeshskiy, 12 m. from
the city, between the Kursk and Ryazan railways, occupies a beautiful site and
is much visited by Moscow merchants, to venerate a holy picture by which Dmitry
Donskoi is said to have been blessed before going to fight (1380) the Mongols.
In the north, the forest of Sokolniki, covering 4.5 sq.miles, with its radial
avenues and numerous summer residences, is the part of Moscow most frequented
by the middle classes.
History
The Russian annals first mention Moscow in 1147 as a place where Yuri
Dolgoruki, prince of Suzdal, met Svyatoslav of Seversk and his allies. The site
was inhabited from very remote antiquity by the Merya and Mordvinians. whose
remains are numerous in the neighbourhood, and it was well peopled by
Grcat-Russians in the 12th century. To the end of the 13th century Moscow
remained a dependency of the princes Vladimir, and suffered from the raids of
the Mongols, who burned and plundered it in 1237 and 1293. Under Daniel, son of
Alexander Nevskv (1261-1302), the prince of Moscow acquired importance for the
part he took in the wars against Lithuanians. He annexed to his principality
Kolomna, situated at the confluence of the Moskva with the Oka. His in 1302
annexed Pereyaslavl Zalesky, and in the following year Mozhaisk (thus taking
possession of the Moskva from its source to its mouth), and so inaugurated a
policy which lasted centuries, and consisted in the annexation by purchase and
other means of the neighbouring towns and villages. In 1300 Kremlin, or fort,
was enclosed by a strong wall of earth and timber, offering a protection to
numerous emigrants from the Tver and Ryazan principalities. Under Ivan Kalita
(1325-1341) the principality of Vladimir, where the princes of Kiev a the
metropolitan of Russia had taken refuge after the wars that desolated
south-western Russia, became united with Moscow; and in 1325 the metropolitan
Peter established his seat at Moscow, thus giving new importance and power
support to the young principality. In 1367 the Kremlin was enclosed within
stone walls, which proved strong enough to resist the Lithuanians under Olgierd
(1368 and 1371). Kalitas grandson, Dmitry Donskoi, annexed the dominions
of Starodub and Rostov, and took part in the renowned battle of Kulikovo
(1380), on the Don in the government of Tula, where the Russians ventured for
the first time to oppose the Mongols in a great pitched battle. Two years after
the battle of Kulikovo Moscow was taken and plundered (for the last time) by
Toktamish, khan of the Golden Horde of the Mongols.
The increase of the principality continued during the first half of the
15th century, and at the death of Vasili (or Basil) the Blind, in 1462, it
included not only the whole of what now the government of Moscow, but also
large parts of present governments of Kaluga, Tula, Vladimir, Nijniy-Novgorod,
Kostroma, Vyatka, Vologda, Yaroslav and Tver. It was not however until the
reign (1462-1505) of Ivan III. that the prince of Moscow set up claims to other
parts of Russia, and called himself Ruler of all Russia. In 1520
Moscow was said to contain 45,000 houses and 100,000 inhabitants. Ivan IV
annexed Novgorod and Pskov to Moscow, and subdued Kazan and Astrakhan. But
after his reign Moscow suffered from long series of misfortunes. In 1547 two
conflagrations destroyed nearly the whole of the city, and a few days later the
Tatar khan of the Crimea advanced against it with 100,000 men. He was compelled
to retire from the banks of the Oka, but in 1571, taking advantage of the state
into which Russia was brought by the extravagances of Ivan, he took Moscow and
burned the city outside the Kremlin. The gates of the Kremlin having been shut,
thousands of people perished in the flames, and annals record that of the
200,000 who then formed the population of Moscow, only 30,000 remained. In 1591
the Tatars of Crimea were again in Moscow and avenged their repulse from the
Kremlin on the inhabitants of the unfortified town. Meanwhile the political
influence of the boyars had gradually increased. The peasants, who settled on
their lands, or on the estates which the prince bestowed upon his boyars, had
become serfs; and political tendency of the boyars, supported by the wealthier
middle classes (which had also a rapid development in the same century), was to
become rulers of Russia, like the noblesse of Poland. During the reign of
Feodor or Theodore (1584-98) Boris Godunov, the regent, ordered the murder of
the heir the throne, Demetrius, son of Ivan IV, and himself became tsar of
Russia. Moscow suffered severely in the struggle which ensued, especially when
the populace rose and exterminated the Polish garrison, on which occasion the
whole of the city outside the Kremlin was again burned and plundered. But in
compensation it acquired in the eyes of the nation a greatly increased
importance, as a stronghold against foreign invasions. The Novo-dyevichy or
Virgins nunnery, which the Poles besieged (1610) without taking, was
invested with a higher sanctity. The city also by-and-by recovered its
commercial importance, and this the more as other commercial cities were
ruined, or fell into the hands of foreigners; and thirty years later Moscow was
again a wealthy city. Owing, however, to the ever-increasing concentration of
power in the hands of the tsar, and steady development of autocracy, it lost
much of its political importance, and assumed more and more, especially under
Alexis Mikhailovich (1643-1676), the character of a private estate of the tsar,
its suburbs becoming mere dependencies of his vast household.
During the whole of the 17th century Moscow continued to be the scene of
many troubles and internal struggles. The people several times revolted against
the favourites of the tsar, and were subdued only by cruel executions, in which
the streitzi - class of citizens and merchants rendering hereditary
military service Ä supported the tsar. Afterwards appeared the
raskol or nonconformist movement, and in 1648, when the news spread that
Stenka Razin was advancing on Moscow to settle his accounts with the
boyars, the populace was kept. from rising only by severe repressive
measures and by the defeat of the invader. Later on, the streltzi
themselves engaged in a series of rebellions, which led the youthful Peter the
Great. to suppress them (1698) amidst streams of blood. The opposition
encountered at Moscow, to his plans of reforming Russia according to his ideal
of military autocracy, the conspiracies of the boyars and merchants, the
distrust of the mass of the people, all compelled him afterwards to leave
(1703) the city, and to seek, as his ancestors had done, a new capital. This he
founded at St Petersburg on the very confines of the military empire he was
trying to establish.
In the course of the 18th century Moscow became the seat of a passive and
discontented opposition to the St Petersburg government. Peter the Great,
wishing to see Moscow like other capitals of western Europe, ordered that only
stone houses should be built within the walls of the town, that the streets
should be paved, and so on; but his orders were only partially executed. In
1722 the Kremlin was restored. In 1739 the city became once more the prey of a
great conflagration; two others followed in 1748 and 1753, and gave an
opportunity for enlarging some streets and squares. Catherine II tried to
conciliate the nobility, and applied herself to benefit the capital with new
and useful buildings, such as the senate house, the foundlings and several
other hospitals,.salt stores, &c.
The last public disaster was experienced by Moscow in 1812. On the 13th of
September, six days after the battle of Borodino, the Russians troops evacuated
Moscow, and the next day the French occupied the Kremlin. The same night, while
Napoleon was waiting for a deputation of Moscow notables, and received only a
deputation of the rich raskolnik merchants, the capital was set on fire
through the carelessness of its own inhabitants (it was no heroic deed of
Roztopchins), the bazaar, with its stores of wine, spirits and chemical
stuffs, becoming the prey of the flames. The inhabitants abandoned the city,
and it was pillaged by the French troops, as well as by Russians themselves,
and the burning of Moscow became the signal of a general, rising of the
peasants against the French. The want of supplies and the impossibility of
wintering in a ruined city, continually, attacked by cossacks and peasants,
compelled Napoleon to leave Moscow on the 19th of October, after he had
unsuccessfully. attempted to blow up certain parts of the Kremlin.
(P.A. K.; J. T. BE.)
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