Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/652

 MOSCOW

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MOSCOW

closixl arcades), anil tlic printing office of the Holy Synod. Just why it wjis called the Chinese town is not known, for no Chinese have ever settled there. The allusion may be to the Tatars, who besieged and took Moscow^ several times, camping outside the Kremlin.

The Kremlin and Kitaigorod are considered to- gether and known as the "City" (gorod), much as the same word is applied to a part of London. The enormous walls surrounding them were originally whitewashed and of white stone, and are even yet white in places, thus giving rise to the poetic name.

where the Tatar.s dwelt for a long lime after they had been driven from Moscow proper. Now it is the Old Russian quarter, where old-fashioned mer- chants dwell in state and keep up the 'Manners and customs of their fathers. The famous TretiakofT art galleries are situated here. There are six bridges across the River Moskva connecting both parts of the city.

The name Moscow is mentioned in Russian chroni- cles for the first time in 1147. In March of that year Yuri Dolgoruki (George the Long-armed), Grand Duke of Kieff and son of Vladimir Monomachu.s, is

Just outside of it lies the Bielygorod, or white town, extending in a semicircle from the Moskva on the one side until it reaches the Moskva again. The Bielygorod is now the most elegant and fashionable

Cart of the city of Moscow. Containing as it does, eautiful and imposing palaces, many fine pubUc monuments and magnificent shops, theaters, and public buildings, it presents a splendid appearance worthy of its ancient history. Around this, in a still wider semicircle, is the Zemhanygorod, or earthwork town, so called because of the earthen ramparts which were constructed there by Tsar Michael Feodorovich in 1620 to protect the growing city in the Polish wars. They have been levelled and replaced by the magnifi- cent boulevards known as the Sadovaya (Garden Avenues).

The wealthy merchants and well-to-do inhabitants dwell here, and fine buildings are seen on every side. The remainder of the city is given over to the industrial and poor classes, railway stations, and fac- tories of all kinds. In addition, there is that part of the city which lies on the south side of the Moskva, the so-called Zamoskvarechie (quarter beyond the Moskva)

Cathedral of the Assumptit Cathedral of the -Annunciation

Moscow: Looking northward, to the

said to have met and entertained his kinsmen there at the village on the Moskva. So pleased was he with the reception which he had received and so im- pressed by the commanding location of the situation that he built a fortified place on the hill where the meeting took place, just where the ijresent Kremhn is situated. The word Kremlin (Russian Kreml) seems to be of Tatar origin, and means a fortified place overlooking the surrounding country. Many other Russian cities dating from Tatar times have kremlins also, such as Nizhni-Novgorod, Vladimir, Kazan, and Samara.

In the beginning of its early history Moscow was nothing but a cluster of wooden houses sur- rounded by paUsades; in 1237 the Tatar Khan laid siege to it, and his successors for several centuries were alternately victors and vanquished before it. In 1293 Moscow was besieged and burned by the Mongols and Tatars, but under the rule of Daniel, son of Alexander Nevsky, its fame increased and it became of importance. He conquered and annexed several neighbouring territories and enlarged his dominions to the entire length of the River Moakva.