g over four hundred feet in length; and though it
is adorned with many columns and pilasters, its architectural effect
is not pleasing to the eye. Its size, however, makes it rather
imposing as a whole. The central portico is surmounted by a graceful
cupola, upon which a figure of Minerva is seated; beneath are seen
statues of Flora and Hercules. Two large and quite remarkable granite
sphinxes brought from Egypt stand in front of the Academy upon the
stone embankment of the river; but the broad business thoroughfare
between them and the building isolates these figures so that one
would hardly think they were in any way connected with the
institution. This Academy of Fine Arts is just one century old,
having been erected in 1786 after a design by a French architect. The
lower floor forms a series of halls devoted to sculpture, the
examples of which are arranged chronologically in various rooms
beginning with the early Greek and Roman schools and terminating with
the productions of the nineteenth century. In apartments over these
are the galleries devoted to paintings. One very interesting and
instructive division is that which is devoted to drawings
illustrating the progress of architecture. This gallery also affords
an admirable opportunity for studying the growth of what is termed
the Russian school of painting.

At the western extremity of the Vassili Ostrof is located the
Institution of Mines, or the Mining School, which is a resort of
special interest to strangers, being in fact a technological college
conducted by the Government upon the most liberal principles, and
designed to fit its students for becoming accomplished mining
engineers. It contains the finest collection of models and
mineralogical specimens we have ever seen collected together, not
excepting those of the British Museum. This institution will
accommodate about three hundred pupils, and is always improved to its
fullest educational capacity. The specimens of native gold alone
which are here exhibited have an intrinsic value of nearly a hundred
thousand dollars, while the beryls, tourmalines, amethysts, topazes,
and other minerals from Siberia are unequalled in any other
collection. The interested visitor cannot fail to receive a correct
impression of the great mineral wealth of this wide-spread empire,
and which will be found to exceed all previously conceived ideas. A
very beautiful rose-colored rubellite from the Urals was observed,
also a green