Moscow's Great Cathedral.
WHAT must, without doubt, be conceded as the most magnificent church edifice in the world is the great cathedral at Moscow, "The Church of St. Saviour," recently completed there. The foundations of the church are of Finnish granite, and the whole edifice is faced with marble, the door being of bronze, ornamented with biblical subjects, and lined with oak. The principal entrance measures 30 feet high by 18 feet broad, and the two doors weigh 13 tons, the total cost of the doors being $350,000. The building is erected in the form of a Greek cross, three of the broad ends of which form the corridors, lower and upper, surrounding three sides of, and open to, the central square, or temple proper, while the fourth end is occupied by the altar and its appurtenances. The total cost of all the marble in the building exceeds $2,000,000. Lifting one's eyes, the galleries are seen to contain 36 windows, and the cupola 16, all of which are double, with frames of bronze. Round the cupola is one row of 640 candelabra, placed there at a cost of $120,000, with a second row of 600, costing an additional $60,000. There are 4 lusters weighing 4 tons each, and the total number of candles to be lighted throughout the building is upward of 3,000. At the top of the cupola is a painting by Professor Markoff, representing in colossal proportions the first person of the blessed Trinity as an old man with the infant Jesus. The height of the figure is 49 feet, the length of the face 7 feet, and the height of the infant 21 feet. Also, below the cupola are a number of figures of apostles and fathers, each 21 feet high. Great expense has, of course, been lavished on the eastern end of the church. The cost of the materials and workmanship for the altar amounted to $150,000. In this part of the church are some of its most remarkable paintings, most, if not all, by Russian artists. The structure of the altar screen is a departure from the traditional Russian type, for instead of a tall, ugly blank partition, half or two-thirds of the height of the church, hiding the eastern end, the screen of St. Saviour's is low and elegant, and throws open, except for a few feet above the floor, the whole of the sanctuary. This princely cathedral was erected at a cost of $12,000,000 and is said to be capable of accommodating 10,000 worshipers, and which, from its conception, has been built in a single life-time.—Brooklyn Magazine.