MOSCOW (Russ. Merle.lca"), the ancient capital of Russia, and formerly the residence of the czars, is situated in a highly-cultivated and fertile district on the Moskva, 400 m. s.e. of St. Petersburg. with which it is in direct communication by railway. Lat 55° 40' n., long. 37' 33' east. Pop. '71, 601,979. Previously to its being burned in 1812, Moscow was perhaps the most irregularly built city in Europe, and that distinction to a great extent it still retains; for, as the main object in 1813 was to Wild speedily, the streets rose again on the old model, undulating and crooked, and consisting of alternating houses, the most varied in character and pretensions. Many improvements have, how ever, been recently accomplished in the city. Gas pipes have been laid along the streets; letter-boxes are placed at frequent intervals; the Romanzoff place, formerly so dirty, has been converted into a splendid square, with an ornamental garden, and the old obelisk, the former monument of the place, standing in the center, with water fountains on each side. The general view of the town, especially that obtained from an eminence on its southern side called the Sparrow hills, is eminently original and picturesque. Its hun dreds of churches and convents, surmounted by gilt and variously-colored domes; its gardens and boulevards; and, above all, the high walls and crowded yet stately towers of the Kreml or citadel, produce a most striking effect. The Kreml, situated on the northern bank of the river, forms the center of the town, and around it, with a radius of about a mile, is a line of boulevards, extending, however, only on the n. side of the i river. Outside of this line, and concentric with it, is another line of boulevards, with a radius of a mile and a half; while beyond all, and forming the girdle of the city, is the outer rampart, with a circumference of 26 English miles. The Kreml comprises the principal buildings, as the cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin, founded in 1326, a small but gorgeously-decorated edifice; the cathedral of the archangel Michael, Con taining the tombs of all the czars down to the time of Peter the great. who changed the royal burial-place to St. Petersburg; the church of the Annunciation, the floor of which is paved with jaspers, agates, and carnelians of various shapes; the tower of Ivan Valid 200 ft. iu height, and surmounted by a magnificent gilded dome, from which, as from all the domes of MOSCOW, rises the honorable cross;" the Czar Kolokol (king of bells), the greatest bell in the world; several palaces, and collections of ancient arms and other antiquities•; the arsenal, surrounded by the splendid trophy of 850 cannons, taken from the French; and the senate. The walls of the Kreml are surmounted by 18 towers, and pierced with. 5 gates. In the town, the chief buildings are the cathedral of St. Vassili.
remarkable for its peculiar architecture; the Gostinoi Dvor, or bazaar; and the exchanges. Tire temple of the Savior, which was commenced in 1812, to perpetuate the memory of the repulse of the French invasion, is not yet completed; but when finished it will be a magnificent architectural feature of this ancient capital. The university of Moscow, the first in Russia, founded in 1753, is attended by 1800 students, and contains a library of 160,000 volumes, museums of natural history, and a botanical garden. As intermediate educational establishments between the parish schools and the university, there are pro vided 5 high schools or gymnasia for males, and 3 for females; special establishments arc the technological, the agricultural. the oriental, 2 commercial, and 3 military schools. There are several learned societies in Moscow, which is also the seat of a metropolitan, one of the three highest dignitaries of the Russian church. The public museum and library, which was removed front St. Petersburg in 1861, occupies a large and handsome building, formerly a palace, is rich especially in ancient Slavonic MSS., and has about 200,000 volumes.
Moscow communicates by railway with St. Petersburg, Nijni-Novgorod, Koslov, etc. It is the seat of an extensive manufacturing and commercial industry; it imports largely, and carries on a considerable export trade, especially with Asia. Its trade is chiefly in hides, leather, oils, wool, grease, isinglass, wax, honey, feathers and down, potass, soap, iron, and copper; cotton from Asia, silks from Georgia, Persia, and Bok hara; Caucasian madder, home and Turkish tobacco, furs, tea, chemicals, and all the products of Russian manufacture, of which Moscow is the actual center. The chief mannfactnres are woolen and worsted goods, silks, brocades, dyeing, printing, tanning and skirt-dressing, iron, copper, and silver works, and chandleries.
Moscow is of ancient origin for a Russian town. Its site was bought by Yuri Dolgo ruki, in the 12th c., and a fortress built. In the 14th c. not only had it become the capital of the Russian religious world, owing to the residence there of the metropolitan, hut it had also become the actual capital of Muscovy. In 1368, 1370, and 1872, it suf fered from the inroads of the Lithuanians; in 1381 it was sacked by the Tartars. From 1415 to 1501 it was, on four separate occasions, partially destroyed by fires; and it was burned to the ground by Devlet-Girey, khan of the Crimean Tartars, in 1571. It was taken by the Poles in 1610, and remained in their possession till their expulsion by the Russians under Minin and Pojarsky in 1612. In 1682, 1689, and 1698, it was the theater of the revolts of the Strelitz. In 1812, from Sept. 14 till Oct. 24, it was in the hands of the French.