Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - II
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
color, being partly suggestive of a prison hue and partly
of a flesh tint.
Before the Winter Palace the stranger is startled by
the sight of a strange, ugly iron shed, which disfigures
the beautiful square. This shed, however, gives a
correct impression of the climate of the country. It is as
necessary as the palace, even more necessary. In the
middle of it there is a huge caldron, which in winter
nights is filled with glowing coals so that the coachmen
and servants, while waiting for their masters in the
palace, may not freeze to death.
Here on the left bank of the Neva are also the huge,
gay-colored buildings of the Admiralty, and St. Isaac’s
Church, built wholly of granite and marble. And here
also the stranger first comes in contact with the
propensity of the Russian to work out his results by the aid
of the strength and the richness of the material, rather
than by the beauty of the design. In the interior, the
floor and walls are covered with polished marble of
different kinds: there are columns of lapis-lazuli, sixteen
or seventeen feet high, and of malachite, thirty feet
high, with gilded bases and capitals; but there are no
forms that impress themselves on your memory. Great
art first meets the eye when it dwells on Falconet’s bold
memorial Peter the Great, where the Tsar is seen
galloping up a block of Finnish granite on a rearing
horse—perhaps the best equestrian statue of modern times. There
are also along the Neva a large number of fine buildings
in the Italian and French style, transplanted here. There
are also very numerous chapels and shrines, before
which every passer-by crosses himself again and again,
in case he does not stop and say his prayers. On the
Neva and on the quays there is a constant succession of
sleighs. These sleighs, public or private, have only a
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
