BUSSIA. 382 BUSSIAN LANGUAGE. Zograf, Les peuples de la Riissie (Moscow, 1805) ; Hellwald, Vie Melt da- Slaioen (Berlin, 1890). HiSTOBV. Eambaud, Bistoire de la Kussie (Paris, 1878), trans, by Lang as A Bintorp of liussia (1879) ; Stralil and Hermann, Oeschichte des ru^sischen Staats (Hamburg, 1832-66) ; Karanisin, Bistoire de I'evipire de Ilussic, trans- laU'd into French bv Saint-Tlionias, .Jauffret, and DivolT (Paris, 1819-20); Bernhardi, Geschichte h'usslaiids tind dcr europdischen Politik in den Juhren 1S1.',-31 (Leipzig, 1808-78); Ralston, Eurly Itussidn Bisiory (ib., 1874) ; Schnitzler, Secret Bistnry of the Court and Oovernmcnt Under the Emperors Alexander and Nicholas (Eng. trans., ib., 1847) ; id., Les institutions dc la Russie depvis les r^formes de I'empereur Alex- andre II. (Piuis, 18(50). KUSSIAN ARCHITECTTTEE. The indige- nous architecture of Russia is a development of the Byzantine (q.v.). It is similar to that of Armenia, to that of the Caucasian region, and to that of Jloldavia. The great peculiarity of the Russian style — that which makes it at once re- mark.ible and recognized among other styles of building — is in the great extension given to the idea of the cupola or lantern, which in one form or another forms the principal roof of nearly all the churches in the land. For all these buildings are of the 'central type,' in con- tradistinction to the 'basilica type;' that is, the}' are arranged around a chosen centre which may be the sanctuary or the chief place for the con- gregation, and they are not drawn out into long parallel lines. Such a church, then, generally .square, or nearly so in its main outlines, will be roofed by a central cupola covering the w'hole nave, which is nearly square, and at least four minor cupolas covering four chapels at the corners, while the aisles and porches between have minor roofs on a much lower level ; or, as in the ease of some of the large wooden churches, the rounded cupola will be replaced by a blunt spire built of timber and covered with plank, with four or eight sloping sides, while this pyramid may or may not terminate in a very
- sniall cupola, apparently studied from Persian
design. The wooden churches are generally in the far north, and these share that peculiarity of Norwegian buildings of the same class, in being almost wholly without window openings. To keep out the cold wind of winter and to facilitate the warming by means of stoves, the worshipers are satisfied to use the light of lamps almost ex- clusively. The masonry churches of the centre and south are very like those of Athens and other places in Greece in their compact plan and generally in their small size, though none are rfjuite as minute as well-known Grecian examples. The official architecture of the empire, since the time of Peter the Great, has been largely a rather unsuccessful imitation of the supposed grand style of the eighteenth century. The mas- sive Cathedral of Saint Isaac in Saiiit Petersburg is a narvelous structure in which use has been made of the exceptionally fine granite quarries of Northern Russia to produce monolitliic col- umns of unexampled size; but there is little in the design to please the student of mere classic art. The porticoes are splendid because they could be closely copied from Roman examples. and their gigantic monolithic columns with gilt- bronze capitals suffice to give them splendor. but the design of the mass and the application of the cupola to it are of little value. A finer church is that of Our Lady of Kazan in Saint Petersburg, with a great portico where curved wings project on both sides, somewhat in imita- tion of the Piazza di San Pietro in Rome. Con- sult: Rikliter, Moniimcnls of Aiici<nt Russian Architecture, translated (1850) ; Souslow, Monu- ments de I'ancienne architecture russe (I..eipzig, 1895-1901); Jfcirtinoff, Anciens monuments des environs de Moscou (Moscow-, 1889) ; Montfer- rand, Eiflise catlUdrale de Saint-Isaac (Saint Petersburg, 1 845 ) . RUSSIAN CHURCH. See Greek Church. RUSSIAN LANGUAGE, The. The most im- jiortant of the Slavic languages (q.v.), with re- spect to the number of its speakers and its literature. It is spoken by about 90,000.000 people throughout the Russian Empire, and by about 4,000,000 Ruthenians in Galicia, Bukowina, and Hungary. It is also heard in Alaska. Though the language of a Bohemian sounds quite foreign to a Russian, yet the latter can, with a little efi'ort, understand a Servian, a Bul- garian, or a Pole, and finds only a few diffi- cult words and forms. In the tenth and eleventh centuries the difference was still slighter, yet even then Russian had a pro- nounced individuality and a number of well- defined dialects. The chief influence on Russian was exercised by the Slavonic of the ecclesiastical books, the contributions from the Tatar (quite few), Polish, German, and French being mainly limited to additions to the vocabulary. About the sixteenth century the Russian language reached its present state as far as the main features of it, in sound and form, are concerned. After Peter had introdiiced the present 'civil' alphabet, Lomonosoff (q.v.) gave the Russian its modern aspect by means of his many grammati- cal and philological works. At present, there are three distinct dialects of the Russian lan- g-uage: ( 1 ) Great Russian found in its purest form about ^Moscow, This is the basis of literary Russian. It is used by about two-thirds of the Russian-speaking population, or about 60,000,000 ])eoi)le. Broadly speaking, it is heard in the north, centre, and east of Russia, having two subdivisions: (a) Xorth Great Russian and (b) South Great Russian, (2) Little Russian, spoken by about one-fourth of the Russian-speaking population, or over 20,- 000,000 people, in the south and southwest of Russia, and by the Ruthenians in Austria-Hun- gary, It possesses qiiite a literature of its own, the works of Shfchenko being its finest specimens, although in Russia the dialect is under official ban. It possesses three varieties : (a) North Lit- tle Russian, (b) South Little Russian, and (c) Red (Ruthenian) Russian (heard in Volhynia, Podolia. and Galicia). (3) M'hite Russian, spoken by about 5,000.000 people, in the western part of Russia, chielly in Lithuania, The spelling is rather historical than phonetic, e.g. pocinii (we sing) is pronounced paifdm in the Moscow dialect, but a pronunciation more phonetic is quite common. Among the formal characteristics of the Ru.s- sian language may be noted: (1) Seven ca.ses, nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, voca- tive, ablative ( instrumental ) , and preposition-
