“ It is one of the best built provincial towns of Russia. It is an episcopal see of the Orthodox Greek Church. The central part of Simbirsk—the Crown (Venets) , containing the cathedral and the best houses—is built on a hill 560 ft. above the Volga. Adjoining this is the commercial quarter, while farther down the slope, towards the Volga, are the storehouses and the poorest suburbs of the city ”