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 THE 
 
 Russian Historical Museum 
 AT Moscow: 
 
 WILLOUGHBY GARDNER, F.R.G.S. 
 
 LIVERPOOL : 
 
 THOMAS BRAKELL LIMITED, TRINTERS, 
 58, DALE STREET 
 
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 1 
 
 Cornell University Library 
 DK1.M89 G22 
 
 The Russian historical museum at Moscow 
 
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 3 1924 031 053 592 
 
 President Whjte Library, 
 Cornell University. 
 
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A RUSSIAN HISTORICAL MUSEUM. 
 By Willoughby Gardner, F.R.G.S. 
 
 IT has been said that " the proper study of man- 
 " kind is man." This may be interpreted as 
 meaning not only man as he is now, but man as 
 he has been during the long centuries of which we 
 have a written record, and man as he was in ages 
 past, before the dawn of history. 
 
 The Imperial Government of the vast Russian 
 Empire has done well to recognize this. It has 
 re cently taken steps to illustrate the progress and 
 development of the human race in Russia in a 
 graphic manner by the establishment at Moscow 
 — the ancient capital — of a Russian Historical 
 Museum. 
 
 In the centre of the great city of Moscow stands 
 the world-famed Kremlin, with its seven gorgeous 
 mosque-like cathedrals and churches full of sacred 
 shrines and holy pictures, its wonderful sacristies, its 
 rich treasuries, its magnificent palaces, which pious 
 pilgrims and cuYious travellers journey far to see. 
 
 Just outside of the Iversky Gate of the Kremlin 
 stands a handsome new building of a. very different 
 character from those within the sacred precincts ; 
 it is the newly-erected Russian Historical Museum, 
 which was commenced in the year 1883 and opened, 
 to the extent of ten rooms, in 1888. 
 
 The aim and object of this most interesting and 
 unique Museum is to illustrate the progress of the 
 
 Jr 
 
2 A Russian Historical Museum. 
 
 human race in Russia from the earliest pre-historic 
 ages down to the present time, To this end, the 
 Cqlleptions of objects are arranged in a series of 
 rooms according to chronological and topographi- 
 cal brder ; all the rooms in which the specimens of 
 a certain age are exhibited are, moreover, decorated, 
 and' many are also built, according to the style and 
 art of the period illustrated ; in addition to this, 
 some very admirable frescoes are being painted 
 upon the walls by first-rate artists, depicting epi- 
 sodes in the life of the particular epoch dealt with, 
 the artists, wherever possible, making use of the 
 specimens exhibited in the cases below as models 
 for the details of their subjects. This extensive 
 and commendable programme is already well com- 
 menced, though its completion will, necessarily, be 
 a work of time. 
 
 Passing through the handsome entrance hall of 
 the building, we ascend steps to the right and enter 
 a small vestibule, where some fine tusks of the 
 mammoth are deposited. From this we enter the 
 first principal room of the Museum ; it is designed 
 to illustrate life in the Stone Age in Russia, — that 
 far-distant and long period during which the inhabi- 
 tants of the country were unacquainted with the 
 use of any metal, and were therefore compelled to 
 fashion their tools and weapons with infinite patience 
 and toil from stone, wood, bone, and similar hard 
 substances. The most remarkable feature here is 
 the first of the above-mentioned series of frescoes, 
 which have been painted to ornament the upper 
 portion of the walls round the various rooms in the 
 building. The wall-paintings in this, the first room, 
 are the work of Mons, Vasnetzoff, a distinguished 
 Russian artist, and shew the life of man in the late 
 Stone Age. On the left-hand side is seen a cave 
 in which the pre-historic family dwell. {Plate A .) 
 In front are a number of wild-looking women and 
 children engaged in prepariilg food ; two men are 
 
PLATE A, 
 
|l Cornell University 
 J Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031053592 
 
P'LATE B. 
 
The Stone Age. 3 
 
 bringing in fresh supplies in the form of an elk's 
 head and a young bear ; two girls in the foreground 
 are seen clearing the flesh from some skins by 
 means of little flint " scrapers ", and an uncouth 
 woman seated upon a stone is nursing her child. 
 Further on, the various arts of those primitive times 
 are seen in practice : two men are laboriously cut- 
 ting pieces of horn, while others are busy chipping 
 the flint flakes which were their chief weapons and 
 cutting implements; behind the former couple, a 
 boy is drilling the circular stones used for spinning 
 whorls. Then comes a huge and fierce warrior, 
 his jTiuscular frame partly covered by skins, and 
 armed with a primitive stone-headed axe and a flint- 
 pointed spear. {Plate B.) Next is shown a group 
 of figures of a less bellicose aspect, seated upon the 
 ground : three men are moulding in the palms of 
 their hands the rude pottery of the epoch, which 
 others are decoratfng with a zigzag pattern by the 
 aid of a sharp flint. Beyond these again, a venerable 
 old man and an eager-faced boy are sucessfully 
 producing sparks of fire by rubbing a dry tree trunk 
 with a piece of very hard wood. On a bank in the 
 distance is one of the log canoes of the period, 
 which two persons are busy hollowing out ; other 
 figures are, a youth who is delightedly jerking out 
 of the water a fish which he has hooked, and a man 
 aiming at a bird with a primitive bow and flint- 
 tipped arrow. Last of all, on the right-hand side, a 
 more curious and exciting episode of the chase is wit- 
 nessed {Plate C) : a huge hairy mammoth, with the 
 long curved tusks peculiar to the species, has been 
 captured in a pitfall warily dug for him at the edge of 
 the forest ; numbers of semi-naked savages of both 
 sexes are trying to overpower the great beast by 
 gradually worrying him to death with flint-headed 
 javelins and stones, and one of the more adventu- 
 rous, having approached too near, has fallen a victim 
 to the infuriated animal and lies dead upon the 
 
4 A Russian Historical Museum. 
 
 ground. Altogether these pictures are most original, 
 vivid, and instructive ; and in designing them the 
 artist was guided by a desire to give a general idea 
 of life during the Stone Age, rather than to depict 
 any one particular epoch ; the mammoth, for 
 instance, was contemporary- with Paleolithic man 
 in Russia, but was probably extinct long before 
 the Neolithic period. 
 
 Around this room are cases filled with relics of 
 the Stone Age found in various parts of the country, 
 arrainged according to the four districts in which 
 they were collected, viz. : — the river systems of the 
 Black Sea, the Caspian, the White Sea and the 
 Baltic ; and they are intended to illustrate by actual 
 specimens the mode of life of the people shewn in 
 the frescoes above. The collections are rich in all 
 sorts of stone and flint weapons — axes, spear-heads, 
 arrow-heads, hammers, knives, scrapers,-^princi- 
 pally of the Neolithic Age; there are alSo querns 
 for grinding corn, stone and earthenware spinning 
 whorls, and rude pottery both plain and engraved. 
 Unfortunately, the specimens are not yet arranged 
 in chronological order, rough and primitive chipped 
 flints being side by side with later and most beauti- 
 fully-ground and polished implements. Here I 
 noticed two very curious flints chipped in the form 
 of little fishes, possibly used as ornaments, found 
 in eastern Siberia j Professor Anutschin suggests 
 that they were perhaps used as religious symbols, 
 and says that somewhat similar specimens have 
 been found in North America. In other cases are 
 the bones of the mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, and 
 contemporary animals. 
 
 Carrying out the design of the Museum to show 
 the artistic development as well as the daily life of 
 the people of the period, the arches and dadoes of 
 this room are ornamented with rude patterns copied 
 from the Neolithic pottery preserved in the cases. 
 
 The Second Room is intended to illustrate a later 
 
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PLATE D. 
 
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 iii!iiiii!i;ii!iiiiiiiiiiPiP 
 
 
 RUSSIAN TUMULI. 
 
 I SKELETON IN STONE KIST ; KOBAN. 
 2. BODY CREMATED ; SMOLENSK. 
 
 Drawn by E. W.C. and W.G. after shetches by Mon. W. Sisow, Moscow. 
 
The Bronze Era. 5 
 
 epoch in the history of the early inhabitants of 
 Russia. After the Stone Age had existed for a 
 period of long and unknown duration, a higher 
 culture made its appearance with the first discovery 
 of the use of metal in the form of Bronze ; this was 
 possibly about 1500 years before" the Christian Era. 
 No frescoes have yet been painted for this room, 
 which represents the early Bronze Age, but the 
 cases contain fine collections of specimens unearthed 
 in various districts ; they comprise magnificent 
 bronze axes, daggers, and spear-heads, portions of 
 horse trappings and harness, bells, fish-hooks, and 
 chains, besides many articles for personal adorn- 
 ment, such as fibulae, hairpins, earrings, and spiral 
 bracelets ; there are also some very pretty necklaces 
 and pendant ornaments of various coloured stones. 
 Many of these articles are from the tombs at the 
 little mountain village of Koban, near Vladicaveas, 
 in the Caucasus. Another " find" from Kasbec, in 
 the same district, contains some very remarkable 
 objects. Most noticeable among these are the 
 bronze stags' and mules' heads, ornamenting 
 portions of harness ; also a silver bowl of 
 Phoenician origin. A splendid collection of pottery 
 of the Bronze Age, chiefly from Yaroslaf on the 
 Volga, is here exhibited. 
 
 The most interesting objects in this room, 
 however, are three beautifully-executed models in 
 coloured plaster of the burial-places of the period, 
 copied from tumuH found in different districts in 
 Russia. In the first of these — an example from 
 Koban— the skeleton of a human being is seen, lying 
 on its side, within a stone kist, which is formed 
 of slabs set on end, with a large flat stone resting 
 on the top, like a cromlech {Plate D, i) ; this kist 
 was afterwards covered with a heap of earth, form- 
 ing a tumulus. Beside the skeleton lie the various 
 things which the friends of the departed thought 
 necessary for his use in the spirit world to which he 
 
6 A Ruman Historical Museum. 
 
 had recently gone ; there is a small earthen pot for 
 food, various weapons of flint and bronze, as well 
 as his personal ornaments — bronze spiral bracelets 
 for the arms and ankles, bronze fibulae, etc. The 
 two other models are somewhat different in the 
 structure and contents of the tumuli, and illustrate 
 burial-places in other districts. 
 
 There is a good relief map in this room, shewing 
 the localities where the "finds" occurred. 
 
 Room Three contains a collection of articles of a 
 rnore recent date, but still chiefly of bronze ; some 
 of the axe-heads are very beautifully chased and 
 ornamented, and the pottery and funeral urns are 
 again very fine. But the principal objects of interest 
 in the cases in this room are four most carefully- 
 executed models of tumuli, all Slav-Russian. The 
 first is copied from one opened at Smolensk, to the 
 west of Moscow {Plate D, -2) ; here the body of the 
 dead has been burned, the ashes still strew the 
 ground, and the human remains have been collected 
 and placed in an urn in the centre, over which a 
 mound of earth has been piled ; at a later date the 
 same process seenis to have been repeated ; possibly 
 a son of the first person has been cremated, and his. 
 remains collected in an urn which \was placed on 
 the top of the first tumulus ; more earth has again 
 been piled over this, making a larger mound ; above 
 the latter, a hollow iron "umbo", apparently taken 
 from a shield, appears, which may perhaps have 
 been used as a small urn for sacrificial rites by 
 relatives or descendants of the deceased. 
 
 The second model is of another " find " at Smo- 
 lensk {Plate E, 1) ; here the body has al§o been 
 burned (half-charred logs of wood being still visible) 
 and the ashes collected in an urn ; over this earth 
 has been heaped, on the top of which the relatives 
 of the deceased appear to have performed certain 
 funeral rites on flat stones placed on the mound, and 
 around which the. calcined bones of animals con- 
 
PLATE E. 
 
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 W-S. 
 
 RUSSIAN] TUMULI. 
 
 1 BODY CREMATED : SMOLENSK. 
 
 2 & 3, BODY INHUMATED. 
 
 Om^on by E. W.C. and W.G. after shetahes by Man. W. Sisow, Moscow. 
 
P(-ATE F 
 
Funeral Rites. .7 
 
 sumed' at the feast still remain ; upon this again 
 more earth has been piled, finally completing the 
 tumulus. Model No. 3 is of later date, and con- 
 tains a human skeleton uncremated. (Plate JE, 2). 
 Model 4 is in shape very like what we should call a 
 " long barrow" ; there being only just enough earth 
 to cover the skeleton within, while a circle of stones 
 surrounds the mound. [Plate E, 3). 
 
 This room also is decorated with two fine 
 frescoes, the work of Professor Semirodsky, an 
 accomplished artist of Polish birth, who has studied 
 long in Rome ; they are designed to illustrate the 
 funeral rites practised at this time in Russia. The 
 first (Plate F) represents the cremation of the body 
 of a rich trader, the owner of a fleet of vessels on the 
 river Volga ; the great man is represented as dead 
 and lying in state, in all his richest robes and orna- 
 ments, in a sitting posture, on the deck of his own 
 particular boat ; his personal belongings, his arms, 
 drinking vessels, and various examples of worldly 
 riches, are heaped around him in barbaric splen- 
 dour ; his war-horses and the best of his flocks 
 and herds have been slain to accompany him to a 
 future world ; finally, his favourite wives, chanting 
 a funeral song to their dead lord and master, climb 
 up into the boat beside him, and are there stabbed 
 to death by the attendants. The boat and the 
 bodies are then all burnt together, and the ashes 
 are collected in funeral urns, like the specimens 
 seen in the case below ; over this a great mound of 
 earth is then raised, forming a tumulus — similar to 
 one of those found at Smolensk, from which the 
 above-mentioned plaster model has been copied. 
 
 This magnificent and admirably-executed picture 
 is not a mere ideal composition on the part of the 
 artist, but is carefully worked up from a written 
 description, fortunately extant, penned by an actual 
 eye-witness of such a scene. A certain Arab 
 historian, Ibn Fozlan by name, was sent by the 
 
8 A Russian Historical Museum. 
 
 Caliph of Bagdad, in the year 922 a.d., as a mis- 
 sionary of Islam to the remote pagan people living 
 near the junction of the Kama river with the Volga ; 
 while there, he was present at the funeral of a great 
 merchant, who died at the chief town of the district 
 called Boulgar ; and it is from the descriptive 
 writings of this far-wandering Arab missionary, as 
 well as from the numerous objects contained in. the 
 cases in the museum, that Professor Semirodsky 
 has been enabled to design and elaborate this 
 . splendid fresco. 
 
 The second picture in this room shows an episode 
 on the banks of another great river, the Danube, in 
 the loth century. During the wars of the Greek Em- 
 peror John Zimisces against the Russians, the petty 
 King Swiatoslav was besieged by the Emperor's 
 army in the strong fortress of Silistria (Dorostal). 
 -The scene represented in this picture (Plate G) , also 
 by Professor Semirodsky, occurred after a great 
 battle which was fought here. It is evening, and 
 the moon is just rismg across the waters of the 
 Danube ; the fierce warriors of Swiatoslav have 
 issued from the fortress and have raised several 
 huge funeral pyres beneath its walls, upon which 
 they heap the dead bodies of their fallen comrades ; 
 the prisoners of war, both male and female, are then 
 brought out and put to the sword, and their bodies 
 likewise thrown upon the great stacks of logs which 
 are being set on fire ; an exception is made in the 
 case of the children, who, snatched from the arms 
 of their weeping mothers, are slain and thrown into 
 the river. A cock is also seen being dropped into 
 the water, in accordance with a wide-spread pagan 
 custom, as a propitiation to the evil spirits. 
 
 This fresco has been designed from the account 
 handed down to us in the writings of Leon le Diacre, 
 an historian of those times, who was present at this 
 siege of the fortress of Silistria. 
 
PLATE G. 
 
The Greek Colonists. g 
 
 Room No. 4, the decorations of which are 
 intended to illustrate the Iron Age in Russia, is in 
 an unfinished state. Here only very few objects are 
 yet arranged ; among them,, however, are several 
 very remarkable stone statues of large size, which 
 were found standing on the top of some tumuli 
 on the steppes in Siberia. These, called " Babas" 
 by the peasants, were and still are objects of 
 the greatest veneration and superstition ; they are 
 supposed to date from about the second to the 
 seventh century, and to have belonged to a nomadic 
 people, who, according to the faces and the cos- 
 tumes of the statues, were of a Mongolian race. 
 
 The fifth room in the Museum deals with a period 
 of the greatest possible interest in the history of the 
 human race in the great Russian empire. About 
 600 years b.c. a party of Greek colonists from 
 Miletus emigrated to the northern shores of the 
 Black Sea, to the neighbourhood of the town of 
 Kertch in the Crimea, a place anciently known as 
 Panticapeum. These Greeks settled quietly and 
 peaceably in the district, and flourished there ex- 
 ceedingly ; in course of time they engaged largely 
 in commerce with the Scythian inhabitants of the 
 countries around them, and they appear to have 
 gradually amalgamated to a certain extent with 
 these people. Living in security, free from wars, 
 and engaged in trade, the colonists soon grew very 
 rich, and following on their prosperity came the 
 highest civilization and luxury of their age and 
 nation. The time of their occupation of this dis- 
 trict, viz., from about 600 b.c. to the commencement 
 of our era, included the most famous period of 
 Greek art and refinement ; and it will therefore be 
 readily understood, that the history of the manners 
 and customs of these rich and peaceful colonists in 
 Russian territory is of the greatest importance and 
 interest, not only to Russia, but to the whole 
 civilized world. 
 
lo A Russian Historical Museum. 
 
 Fortunately for us, these Greeks of the Crimea, 
 carrying out the usage of earlier ages, buried their 
 dead inside tumuli ; they also reverently deposited 
 with the body all the various articles which be- 
 longed to the respective owners during life. In 
 this way the numerous tumuli, which are scattered 
 all along these coasts, have safely preserved to us, 
 in vast and solid vaults, hoards of interesting and 
 beautiful relics of the period. By the aid of these 
 objects, we, living in this igth century, are able to 
 picture vividly to ourselves the life of the wealthy 
 and luxurious people of that far-off age, — a time 
 when art .flourished as it has never since done. 
 The collections of Greek art from these tombs in 
 the Crimea have no rivals, and they are well and 
 fittingly enshrined in the beautiful Hermitage 
 Palace at St. Petersburg. In Room 5 of the His- 
 torical Museum at Moscow there are are only 
 models of the more unique articles of interest ; but 
 these, arranged as they are with a good, many 
 original objects which have been found in duplicate, 
 enable us to gain a very good idea of this important 
 page of human history in Russia. 
 
 There are in the neighbourhood of these ancient 
 Greek colonies probably hundreds of tumuli, very 
 many of which have been opened and explored. 
 One of the most interesting is that of Koul Oba, a 
 huge mound long called by the Tartars the " Hill 
 " of the Brave." {Plate H,^). ' It is situated close 
 by the modern town of Kertch, and was the burial 
 place not of a Greek but of a great Scythian king. 
 The colonists amalgamated to so great an extent 
 with the surrounding nations, that the Scythian 
 monarchs adopted Greek civilization, and became 
 possessed of the finest examples of Greek art ; many 
 skilled Athenian artists also, settling in the district, 
 took' Scythian models for their work, so that two 
 phases of art are here exhibited — the one pure Greek, 
 the other, scarcely less beautiful, the production of 
 
PLATE H. 
 
 
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 TOMB OF SCYTHIAN KING; KOUL DBA TUMULUS 
 
 I SECTION OF TUMULUS SHOWING SEPULCHRAL VAULT, 
 J z GROUND PLAN OF VAULT. 
 
 3. EXTERIOR OF TUMULUS. 
 
 Drawn by E.W.C. and W.g after shetchis by Mon W. Sisow.Moscoa 
 
A magnificent Tomb. ii 
 
 Greek artists who mingled their own mythology 
 and traditions with the legends and customs of the 
 Scythians. The great sepulchral mound at Koul 
 Oba, which is some thirty feet high, contains in its 
 interior a central vault about 15 feet square, built of 
 huge stones, 3 feet long by 2 feet deep. {Plate H, i). 
 The inside of. the vault was painted with frescoes, 
 which, however, soon faded on being exposed to 
 the outer air. In the centre of this silent chamber 
 had rested undisturbed for considerably over 2000 
 years the bodily remains of a great Scythian mon- 
 arch ; they were extended on a magnificent couch 
 made of the wood of the yew tree — still almost new 
 to outward appearance ; the couch was covered 
 with a canopy carved and .painted with pure Greek 
 designs. The body soon crumbled to dust when 
 the tomb was opened ; it was wrapped in the richest 
 of robes, and decked with the most costly and 
 precious of ornaments ; on the king's head was a 
 diadem ; round his neck was a massive twisted gold 
 torque, weighing over 16 ounces, enamelled in blue 
 and green, and elaborated at the two extremities 
 with most beautfuUy-executed figures of horsemen ; 
 on his arms and wrists were golden armlets and 
 bracelets — twisted cables terminating in heads of 
 sphinxes — of exquisite workmanship, perfect gems 
 of art. Near By lay the king's sword with a handle 
 of gold, and scabbard of magnificent repousse work ; 
 also a gold-handled whip. Around the couch were 
 disposed various vases and cups of electrum g.nd 
 gold, all in the most exquisite work of the highest 
 period of that wonderful Greek art which has known 
 no equal since. Among the numerous personal 
 objects was the fragment of a lyre, made of mam- 
 nioth ivory, with an etching of the " Judgment of 
 " Paris " upon it'; this, from a draughtsman's point 
 of view, could hardly be more beautiful. 
 
 Near to the couch on which reposed her noble 
 lord, lay the remains of a woman, probably his 
 
12 A Russian Historical Museum. 
 
 favourite wife, likewise gorgeously attired ; on her 
 head was a diadem similar to that of the king ; 
 round her neck was another magnificent gold torque 
 with lion-headed ends, also a necklace of gold 
 filigree work, ornamented with pretty little forget- 
 me-nots in pale blue enamel, with most elegant 
 medallions as pendants ; her golden earrings, 
 weighing 2 ounces each, were perfect marvels of 
 the goldsmith's art, engraved with mythological 
 subjects requiring the aid of a magnifying glass to 
 bring out their beautiful detail to perfection. At 
 the feet of the queen stood a vase of electrum, of 
 the most charming and admirable workmanship ; 
 it was ornamented with beautifully chased figures 
 in repousse work, illustrating various episodes in 
 the life of some person. This individual is, in all 
 probability, the very Scythian king who is buried 
 in this tomb, as is shown by the following circum- 
 stance. Subject number three in the repousse work 
 on the vase represents a quaint and amusing episode : 
 A chieftain is seen half sitting, half kneeling, his 
 face wearing a look of subdued pain, whilst a Scy- 
 thian dentist is carefully extractirig a tooth from the 
 left side of the jaw. Now it is a most remarkable 
 thing that the skull of the king found in the tomb 
 of Koul Oba, and which can ,now be seen in the 
 Museum at Kertch, shows evidence of a severe con- 
 tused wound on the left side of the jaw, and also 
 that two teeth had been subsequently extracted 
 from the injured place. What a curious reminis- 
 cence of royal toothache over 2000 years ago ! 
 
 In the corner of the stone sepulchre lay the 
 remains of yet another human being, a man of 
 gigantic stature ; he was probably the king's 
 equerry, and near to him were the bones of a war- 
 horse, with all its rich harness and trappings of 
 solid gold. 
 
 Besides the above-mentioned belongings of the 
 great monarch, many other articles of use and 
 
Greek Art. 13 
 
 ornament — chaste cups, exquisite repousse vases, 
 and other most beautiful objects — were buried with 
 him ; altogether, it is said that the total weight of 
 gold taken from this tomb amounted to the almost 
 incredible quantity of i2olbs. There; were also in 
 the vault cooking utensils, with remains of food in 
 them, and a drinking cup, which actually contained 
 the lees of the wine which was originally placed in it. 
 
 We know not who this rich and mighty potentate 
 of the Koul Oba tomb was ; history is silent. In 
 the- writings of Herodotus, however, we have pre- 
 served to us an account of a royal interment in a 
 tumulus, which appears to be very like the one in 
 question. 
 
 Many other tombs have been opened in the Cri- 
 mean district, containing objects of equal interest 
 in their way with those of Koul Oba ; from these 
 have been gathered vases, paintings, musical instru- 
 ments, dresses, ornaments, toilet necessaries, mir- 
 rors, lamps, arms, horse trappings, toys, games, 
 &c., in fact the numerous and varied articles used 
 in the daily life of their different owners over twenty 
 centuries ago ; every one of these specimens is 
 replete with the highest interest to us, not only on 
 account of its antiquity, but by reason of its un- 
 parallelled artistic merit. 
 
 But it is the great tomb of the Scythian king at 
 Koul Oba which has been chosen as a model for 
 Room No. 5 in the Historical Museum at Moscow, 
 to illustrate the influence of Greek art and civiliza- 
 tion in Russia. The room itself is built of the exact 
 size, and is a careful copy of the interior of the 
 sepulchral chamber inside the Koul Oba tumulus ; 
 it is ornamented with frescoes faithfully reproduced 
 from the originals in the tomb, which, unfortunately, 
 soon faded away when it was opened.* In the 
 
 * Since writing the above, I am informed that the frescoes round this room 
 are not, as was intended to carry out the reproduction fully, actual copies of 
 those in the Koul Oba tomb ; they are tal^en from two catacombs (pre-Chris- 
 tian) in the neighbourhood of Kertcb. 
 
14 A Russian Historical Museum. 
 
 centre of the room is an accurate model of the 
 outside of the tomb and tumulus. Two cases stand 
 in the room, which are fac-similes of the two sar- 
 cophagi of yew-tree wood upon which the bodies 
 of the monarch and his queen rested ; these cases 
 contain specimens of Greek objects collected from 
 various tumuli, as well as models of the important 
 and unique relics from Koul Oba itself which are 
 deposited at St, Petersburg. 
 
 Thus Room. 5 of the Museum reproduces one of 
 these great silent receptacles of the dead, which 
 has been the means of preserving to us so many 
 beautiful works of art of the marvellous civilization 
 of ancient Greece as exemplified in Russia. To 
 further illustrate the subject, the next room in the 
 series, called the room of Panticapeum and Olbia, 
 gives us an idea of the dwellings of the living at 
 that period ; it is decorated like the inside of a 
 chamber in a Greek house, with more or less fami- 
 liar classic pillars and ornamentation ; it contains 
 reproductions of statues, specimens of pottery, 
 several huge amphorae for wine, and many other 
 interesting, objects. Here, again, another accom- 
 plished artist. Professor Agwasowsky, comes to our 
 aid, with a fine picture representing a view of the 
 environs of Kertch, the ancient Panticapeum, on 
 the right hand side of which are seen several of 
 the great tumuli which contained the far-famed 
 remains. 
 
 The next Room, number 7 in the Museum, refers 
 to quite a different period and district ; it represents 
 the interior of a dwelling in the Caucasus, with 
 arches, ornamented with Georgian decorations, 
 and containing a good collection of pottery and 
 trinkets appertaining to this part of the Empire. 
 
 Room 8 (called A) is not territorially Russian, 
 like the rest of the Museum, but illustrates the 
 earlier phases of Christian art in various countries, 
 and is designed to show the sources from which 
 
Christian Russia. i5 
 
 Russian art and architecture have sprung. Christi- 
 anity was first introduced into this country in the 
 tenth century, after Vladimir, Prince of Kief, was 
 converted. He joined the Eastern Church, the 
 head-quarters of which were then at Constantinople. 
 The Christians of Russia have ever since belonged 
 to this Church, and their ecclesiastical architecture 
 is hence still distinctly Byzantine in character. 
 This room, therefore, is built to represent an early 
 Byzantine religious edifice, which model has served 
 for the type of most of the churches and cathedrals 
 in Russia from the tenth century till the present 
 day. The church is almost square, and in the roof 
 are the usual circular cupolas, richly decorated and 
 gilded. As examples of early Christian art, which 
 had an ultimate influence on that of Russia, the 
 central cupola is ornamented with a painting copied 
 from the catacombs of Rome, and lower down are 
 . reproductions from Ravenna and from St. Sophia 
 at Constantinople. This room is not in any way 
 fitted up like a church, but contains a collection of 
 early ecclesiastical furniture and appointments. 
 
 Room g illustrates the first Christian period in 
 Russia itself by examples taken principally from 
 originals at Kief, which is the Canterbury of Russia. 
 There are very good fac-similes of the celebrated 
 mosaics in the cathedral there, a fine reproduction 
 of the great marble tomb of the Grand Duke Yaro- 
 slaf, copies of the bells, ecclesiastical paraphernalia, 
 ornaments, vestments, &c., and some very beautiful 
 chalices and illuminated books. 
 
 Room ID is also a continuation of the same sub- 
 ject, viz.. Christian Russia from the nth century 
 downwards. Here are models and pictures of a,ll 
 the great ecclesiastical buildings of the country, 
 with illustrations of the most remarkable objects 
 contained therein— mosaics, icons, shrines, orna- 
 ments, vestments and so forth. Two most con- 
 spicuous features are fac-similes of the two thrones 
 
1 6 A Russian Historical Museum. 
 
 for the Tzar and Metropolitan in the cathedral at 
 Novgorod ; they are very fine work of about 1560 
 A.D., ornamented with rich carving and covered 
 with gold. In other cases in this room are speci- 
 mens of more modern art industries in rough metal, 
 jewellery, and embroidery — a most useful collection 
 for the student of Russian art. 
 
 This is all that has yet been done, but the finished 
 scheme will comprise forty rooms, worked out on the 
 lines of the ten already partially filled. When this is 
 completed, the Museum will indeed be an extraordi- 
 narily interesting and instructive one. Altogether, 
 in the matter of its unique general design and 
 arrangement, the Historical Museum at far-off 
 Moscow sets an example which many a similar 
 institution elsewhere might do well to follow. 
 
 In conclusion, the writer begs to express his 
 sincere thanks to Mons. W. Sisow, the kind and 
 courteous curator, for much interesting information 
 about the museum and its contents, and for photo- 
 graphs and drawings from which the accompanying 
 illustrations were reproduced. He is indebted to 
 Professor Anutschin of Moscow for several items 
 embodied in his paper ; and also to Mr. Robt. 
 Maskell's valuable handbook on Russian Art.