June 23 [1859. Moscow]
MILI,
It has finally been vouchsafed me to see Jericho.37--I will give you my impressions. As I approached Jericho, I at once noticed its original character, a smell of antiquity came from the belfries and cupolas of the churches. The Red Gate is quaint and extremely pleasing. From here until you reach the Kremlin there's nothing of any particular note, but the Kremlin, the wonderful Kremlin--I approached it with an involuntary feeling of awe. Red Square, over which surged so many remarkable chaotic events, loses a little on its left side--from the Gostinni Arcade--but Vasili the Blessed [cathedral] and the Kremlin wall make one forget this defect--this is sacred antiquity. Vasili the Blessed gave me an extremely agreeable but strange sensation, it seemed that any moment a boyar in a long coat and high fur cap might pass by. Under the Spassky Gate I took off my hat, this is a folk custom that I like.--The New Palace is superb and among its chambers the best room is the former Gran[ovitaya] Reception Hall where, by the way, Nikon was tried.--Uspensky Cathedral, [the church of] the Savior-in-the-Forest, Archang[el] Cathedral, these are expressions of antiquity hand in hand with Vas. the Blessed. In the Arch. Cathedral I inspected with proper reverence the tombs before which I stood in awe, such as those of Ioann III, Dmitri Donskoy and even the Romanovs, before these last I recalled A Life for the Tzar and thus involuntarily stopped before them.--I climbed up the bell tower of Ivan the Great and from it beheld a wonderful view of Moscow; from the Kremlin, from the side of the palace, there is a good view of the Zamoskvorechye and there is even a better view from the Moscow River over the Kremlin in this direction.--At Samarin's, I ate an excellent cold fish soup and saw waiters in clean white shirts. Walking through Moscow I remembered Griboyedov ("a special mark lies on all Muscovites"38), at least among the simple class I was con
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Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: The Musorgsky Reader:A Life of Modeste Petrovich Musorgsky in Letters and Documents.
Contributors: Jay Leyda - Translator, Sergei Bertensson - Translator, Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky - Author.
Publisher: W.W. Norton.
Place of publication: New York.
Publication year: 1947.
Page number: 17.
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