Travelogues; . ON THE PALACE QUAY tial temple of all arts by Nicholas the First, in 1852. Vainwould be the effort to describe the contents of these halls, oreven to tell of the halls themselves, and I write these wordswith the full consciousness that I am quoting, almost verbatim,lines to be found in every book or article devoted to Some writers, braver than the rest, venture tocrib from catalogues or guide-books the information that the 38 ST. PETERSBURG Hermitage galleries contain a dozen Raphaels, twenty Mur-illos, thirty-four Van Dycks, forty-one Rembrandts, sixtyexamples of
Travelogues; . ON THE PALACE QUAY tial temple of all arts by Nicholas the First, in 1852. Vainwould be the effort to describe the contents of these halls, oreven to tell of the halls themselves, and I write these wordswith the full consciousness that I am quoting, almost verbatim,lines to be found in every book or article devoted to Some writers, braver than the rest, venture tocrib from catalogues or guide-books the information that the 38 ST. PETERSBURG Hermitage galleries contain a dozen Raphaels, twenty Mur-illos, thirty-four Van Dycks, forty-one Rembrandts, sixtyexamples of Rubens, besides some eighteen hundred othercanvases, representative of all the famous schools. Greek. THE HERMITAGE MUSEUM heroes, Roman gods, and Egyptian kings hold court withinthese walls, surrounded by the wealth and art of all the ages,their coffers filled with coins of every epoch, their separatehalls and corridors furnished with the luxuries of civilizationsthat had been dead for centuries ere the mighty Peter wavedhis compelling wand of progress above the barren marshes ofthe Neva, and brought forth Peters city — Holy Petersburg,of which the holiest enceinte is the island of Saint Peter andSaint Paul — nucleus of the Russian Capital, fortress, prison,palace, sanctuary, necropolis of Peters line, last resting-place of the Imperial Romanoffs, where sleep the silentcompany of autocrats composed of all the Tsars save onefrom Peter I to Alexander HI,^ the citadel of St. Peter ST. PETERSBURG 39 and St. Paul is indeed the heart of this creation ofPeter the Great, the chief city of the Muscovites. In former years the might of emperors was in blades ofsteel, in armor and in firearm
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