s composed of four hemicycles. The Cathedral of the Archangel
Michael is close by and was built in 1507 in imitation of it. Near
this again is the Cathedral of the Annunciation. This, which was
built in 1416, is more original in style and recalls the churches of
Mount Athos, or that of Kertch, which dates from the Tenth Century.

Mention must be made of an ancient building, the house known as
the Romanoff House in Moscow. It was the birthplace of the Tsar
Michael Theodorovitch, founder of the now reigning family, and
also of his father Theodore Nikitisch, who became patriarch under
the name of Philaret. In its restored state the Romanoff House
is still perhaps the most remarkable ancient building existing
in Russia as a perfect specimen of the old dwelling-houses of the
boyards. It is built of stone, and the solid exterior walls are
as they originally stood. The interior restoration, completed by
the emperor Alexander in 1859, has been carried out with great
care in the exact style of the time, the furniture and ornaments
being authentic and placed as they would have been.

_VASSILI-BLAGENNOI_

(_ST. BASIL THE BLESSED_)

_THEOPHILE GAUTIER_

We soon reached the Kitai-Gorod, which is the business quarter,
upon the Krasnaia, the Red Square, or rather the beautiful square,
for in Russia the words red and beautiful are synonymous. Upon
one side of this square is the long facade of the Gostinnoi-Dvor,
an immense bazaar with streets enclosed by glass-like passages,
and which contains no less than 6,000 shops. The outside wall of
the Kremlin rears itself on another side, with gates piercing the
towers of sharply peaked roofs, permitting you to see above it the
turrets, the domes, the belfries and the spires of the churches and
convents it encloses. On another side, strange as the architecture
of dreamland, stands the chimerical and impossible church of
Vassili-Blagennoi, which makes your reason doubt the testimony of
your eyes. Although it appears real enough, you ask yourself if
it is not a fantastic mirage, a building made of clouds curiously
coloured by the sunlight, and which the quivering air will change
or cause to dissolve. Without any doubt, it is the most original
building in the world; it recalls nothing that you have ever seen
and it belongs to no style whatever: you might call it a gigantic
madrepore, a colossal formation of crystals, or a grotto of stalactites
inverted.

But let us not search for co