Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/262

256 twelve were frequently packed into it, but it was only unfashionable people who ever thought of thus crowding a box. Each box has a little cabinet or parlor back of it, where one may receive friends, and a great deal of visiting goes on between the acts. The arrangement is an Italian one, and the same feature exists in opera-houses in other parts of Europe.

"To give you an idea of the size of the house, let me quote a few figures comparing it with the principal theatres of Milan, Naples, and London. The measurements are in English feet:

"The stage of the Moscow Opera-house is 126 feet wide and 112 feet deep. At Covent Garden Theatre the respective figures are 88 and 90 feet.

"We had a great deal of curiosity to see the famous drop-scene, which represents the triumphal entry of Minin and Pojarsky into the Kremlin after the expulsion of the Poles from Moscow in 1612. It is a magnificent picture, painted by Duzi, a Venetian artist, and represents the two liberators on horseback near the Holy Gate of the Kremlin, surrounded by citizens of all classes and conditions. Prince Pojarsky looks like an Oriental, as he is dressed in the costume which was worn by the boyards or noblemen down to the time of Peter the Great. The peasant class are in their holiday dress; the women wear sarafans and kakoshniks which are quite like those worn by many of them at the present time, while the men are mostly in girdled caftans, just as we see thousands of them daily. French fashions have taken a hold among the nobility and wealthy people of Russia generally, but have no effect on the peasantry. The common people will probably adhere to their present costume until ordered by Imperial decree to adopt a new one.

"We spent nearly the whole time of the wait between the first and second acts in contemplating this picture, and found plenty to occupy us. We have already mentioned the Minin-Pojarsky Monument, which stands near the gate of the Kremlin, and reminds the people of an important event in their national history. Between the monument and the painting, the