nalities, a fact which is
perhaps easily accounted for. The Empire is located between the East
and the West, and has derived her tastes and art productions from
both, as the influence of Asia and Europe are mingled everywhere.
Assyria, China, India, Greece, Byzantium, France, and England, all
contribute both artists and materials to adorn the Russian palaces,
churches, and public buildings. The more practical Americans first
built her railroads and first established her now famous
machine-shops. Of originality there is very little; all is borrowed,
as it were. There is no such thing as Russian art pure and simple;
and yet over the broad territory which forms the dominion of the
Tzar, we know there have been in the past centuries large,
self-dependent communities, who must have been more or less skilled
in the various arts, but of whom we know only what may be gathered
from half-obliterated ruins of temples and of tombs. The obscurity
which envelops the early periods of Russian history is well known to
be more impenetrable than that of nearly any other civilized region
of the globe. If there can be said to be a Russian style of
architecture, it is a conglomerate, in which the Byzantine
predominates, brought hither from Constantinople with Christianity.

St. Petersburg is not without its triumphal arches. Two very noble
and elaborate structures of this character connect the city with its
most important territories,--the one on the road to Narva, the other
on that leading to Moscow. The first named is specially noticeable,
and was built to commemorate the victorious return of the Russian
troops in 1815. The arch is supported by lofty metal columns, and
surmounted by a triumphal car drawn by six bronze horses, which have
never made a journey abroad like those in the piazza of St. Mark. In
the car is a colossal figure of Victory crowned with a laurel wreath
and holding emblems of war.

CHAPTER XIII.

The Winter Palace. -- The Hermitage and its Riches. -- An Empress
and her Fancies. -- A Royal Retreat. -- Russian Culture. --
Public Library. -- The Summer Garden. -- Temperature of the City.
-- Choosing of the Brides. -- Peter's Cottage. -- Champ de Mars.
-- Academy of Fine Arts. -- School of Mines. -- Precious Stones.
-- The Imperial Home at Peterhoff. -- Curious and Interesting
Buildings. -- Catherine's Oak. -- Alexander III. at Parade. --
Description of the Royal Family. -- Horse-Racing. -- The
E