Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

122

sea.

SOME ACCOUNT OF BERLIN.

BERLIN, the capital of the monarchy of Prussia, the seat of government, and of the chief courts of judicature, is built on the banks of the river Spree, in the midst of a sandy plain, at a height of nearly 130 feet above the level of the It is the chief town of the province of Brandenburg, and is comprised within the administrative circle of Potsdam, which, with that of Frankfort, constitute the province. Excepting Vienna, Berlin is the largest town in Germany; and, in point of population, it holds the fifth rank among the cities of Europe, the number of its inhabitants being upwards of 250,000, about a sixth of the number of the inhabitants of London.

Berlin consists of six quarters, and four suburbs, within the walls, and one suburb without them. The six quarters bear the names of Berlin, Old Köln or Cologne, New Cologne, Friedrichs-werder, Dorotheen-stadt, or Neu-stadt, (the New Town) and Friedrichs-stadt, or Frederick's Town. The four suburbs within the walls are those of Spandauervorstadt, Stralauer-vorstadt, Königs-stadt or Königs-vorstadt, (King's town or King's suburb,) and Luisenstadt, or Louisa's town; the last has borne this name only within the present century, having been formerly called Köllnischen or Köpenicken-vorstadt, the Suburb of Cologne, or of Köpenick; the one suburb without the walls is that of Oranienburg, or New Vogtland.

This city lies on both banks of the Spree, in nearly equal divisions. On the north of the main stream-or rather, on the north-east, for the course of the river through the city is from south-east to north-west, there is one quarter only, that of Berlin, and four suburbs, namely those of Stralau, Spandau, King's, and Oranienburg; on the south-west are the remaining five quarters, and one suburb. The oldest of the quarters of this metropolis is either Berlin or Old Cologne; the most modern, as well as the largest and the handsomest, is that of Friedrichs-stadt, which dates its origin from the early part of the eighteenth century. The circumference of Berlin is about ten miles; the surface which it occupies is between ten and eleven square miles. The number of houses which Berlin contains, is variously estimated at from 9000 to 12000,-that is, from eight to ten times as many as it contained about two hundred years ago. In 1645, Berlin and the quarter of Old Cologne, the only portion of the present city then existing, had together 1236 houses, according to statements of good authority. In 1747, the number in Berlin and the two quarters of Cologne, was 1743,-showing an increase of 507; the number of houses which had been built in the three new quarters raised it to 3762,-and of those in the suburbs to 5513. In the year 1800, the three quarters before-mentioned, contained 1848 houses,-or, with the other quarters, 4331,-and, with the suburbs, upwards of 7000.

The growth of the population of Berlin is equally remarkable. About the year 1690, the number of its inhabitants did not exceed 14,000; ten or twenty years before, it was smaller by 2000, in conseqence of the wars which had prevailed. Under the Great Elector, and especially after the establishment of the colony of French Protestants, who emigrated from their own country to avoid religious persecutions, the population increased so rapidly, that in the year 1700, the number became 29,000, more than double what it had been ten years before. In 1747, according to the enumeration of the police, the whole number of inhabitants was 107,380; and in 1775, it was 135,580. Since the commencement of the present century, the increase has been going on at a still more rapid rate; and at present, the population cannot fall far short of 253,000 persons.

ITS ORIGIN AND GROWTH.

NOTHING certain is known of the origin of Berlin, or indeed, of its history, before the thirteenth century. It is commonly supposed that it consisted, at first, of two distinct villages-Berlin and Cologne-which were both founded at the same time, in the twelfth century, by Albert the Bear, the first Margrave of Brandenburg of the Anhalt line; this prince is thought to have peopled his new settlements with colonies of Christians whom he drew together from the borders of the Rhine, and from the

Netherlands, after having subdued the barbarous tribes of pagans who had previously overrun the country in which he established them. To this circumstance the name of Cologne, Köln, or Colonia, is said by some to be attributable; others, however, hold that it is derived from the word Kollnen, signifying piles, it having been built with those on which the Vends, who were driven out by Albert, had fixed their huts amidst bogs and morasses. Opinions are also various as to the etymology of Berlin,-some tracing it from Bär, a bear, as Albert, the founder of the capital, was called, and others, with more probability, deducing it from a word used in the language of the Vends, to denote an uncultivated country, such as that in which the settlement was formed. The exact period at which these two towns were founded is unknown; the reign of Albert as Margrave extended from about the middle of the twelfth century to the year 1168, and different authorities fix upon the years 1142 and 1163.

Under following princes, they rose gradually towards importance; in the reign of Albert the Second (between 1206 and 1222), they are supposed to have attained the rank of towns, and by his successor, John the First, they were strengthened with fortifications. About 1261, they became the ordinary residence of the Margraves, a circumstance which marks them from that tirae as places of some interest. During the wars which followed the extinction of the Anhalt line, in 1319, their rising importance was checked; but when the margraviate passed into the hands of Frederick, count of Hohenzollern (the present reigning house of Prussia), they quickly regained their prosperity. His successor, Frederick the Second, laid the foundations of the castle, upon the site of which the present royal palace is built, in the quarter of Old Cologne. The residence of the margraves had been previously in the town of Berlin, in the Kloster-strasse, or Cloister-street, near the spot now occupied by the Lager-haus, a "store-house" containing several royal manufactories, and other establishments; but Frederick had been so much annoyed by the turbulence of the citizens of that quarter, and by some disputes which he had with their magistrate, that he resolved to pass over to the other side of the river. He there obtained a site, and erected a Castle, about the year 1444; the ground on which it stood was the same on which is now built one of the wings of the present palace, which opens upon the Long Bridge, as seen in our engraving.

The principal growth of this capital is, nowever, of modern date; for till the middle of the seventeenth century, its extent was confined to the three quarters of Berlin, and Old and New Cologne-which form but a small portion of the existing city. In the year 1640, Frederick William, "the Great Elector," as he is called, began to rule; and during the eight-and-forty years of his brilliant reign, the prosperity of the city was uninterruptedly progressive. To this prince are owing the two-quarters of Friedrichswerder and Dorotheen-stadt; and by him fortifications were built round the former, as also round Berlin and Cologne. His successor, the Elector Frederick the Third, or as he afterwards became, King Frederick the First, was also the founder of a quarter which was called after himself, Friedrichs-stadt or Frederick's Town; in his reign, too, the suburbs originated, and the title of Königliche Residenz-stadte, or Royal Residence-towns, was first conferred on the different quarters of the capital. Frederick William the First, and his son Frederick the Great, both extended its limits, and improved its appearance; the latter, indeed, bestowed much care and expense upon the embellishments of the city, giving opportunities of distinction to its native artists, and bringing to it others from forign countries. "The vast number of edifices constructed by his orders," says a Prussian, who wrote in his reign, "will be so many monuments of the great progress which architecture, sculpture, and painting, have made among us; the excellence of the taste of the king has influenced that of the nation." His example was imitated by the succeeding monarch, Frederick William the Second, under whose auspices was erected the Brandenburg-gate-a work alone sufficient to cast lustre upon any reign; and the present king, Frederick William the Third, has continued in the same path.

CAPTURE BY THE FRENCH IN 1806.

BERLIN fell into the hands of the French under Napoleon, in 1806; the year in which that short campaign took place which ended in the almost total extinction of the monarchy of Prussia. On the 1st of October, a declaration of war, or what was considered equivalent to it, was issued by the king, Frederick William the Third, against Napoleon; on the 14th of that month, after some partial actions, the great battle of Jena and Auerstadt was fought, in which the Prussians were completely defeated, with immense loss. On the 21st, the Prussian garrison withdrew from Berlin, and retreated to Custrin, whither the king had repaired; a provisional administration was left behind to maintain the public tranquillity, until the arrival of the French. This was not long delayed; for on the morning of the 25th, the corps of Marshal Davoust took possession of the city. Napoleon himself reached Potsdam on the 24th, and he stopped to examine the apartment, and visit the tomb of the Great Frederick. He seized on the sword, belt, and hat of that celebrated monarch, and ordered them, together with the ribbon of his order, the black eagle, and all the colours which he took in the "Seven Years' War," to be sent to the Hotel of the Invalides, at Paris, as a present to the old soldiers who had served in the Hanoverian war, and a memorial of one of the greatest generals whom history mentions. He afterwards had another opportunity of gratifying the vanity of his subjects, by taking down the monument of victory which had been erected by Frederick, in commemoration of the defeat of the French and Austrians, at the battle of Rosbach, in 1757, and ordering it to be conveyed to Paris, as a proof that the disgrace which that day had brought on the French arms, was at length effaced.

66

123

gratification which he experienced on his first entry. During the gradual disappearance of the German mode of buildhis approach to this capital, he had noticed for some time ing, and the substitution of an elegant ornamental style, formed with peculiar taste on the Italian models. In the chastest and most elegant specimens of this character; first streets he was particularly struck with some of the ceɛded, at every step we gazed with fresh delight, when "each house was a model. Still," he the first opening of the Linden Strasse burst upon the says, as we proview, eclipsing whatever we had hitherto seen, and presenting one of the finest architectural vistas in the world. No imagination can conceive a scene in the strict sense of the word, more beautiful than what is here presented." its chief attractions, in an architectural point of view, from It would appear that like St. Petersburgh, Berlin derives the regularity of its plan, and the uniform style of its buildings,-advantages mainly owing to the comparatively modern date of the greater part of it. Mr. Russell, however, complains that this uniformity is carried too far,indeed to a tiresome degree, there being too frequent a repetition of the same forms and combination "it is easily measure, in lumps on one wholesale plan." The general seen," he observes, "that it has sprung up in a great style of the public edifices is an Ionic portico, placed before which generally forms what may be called the ground-floor; a very plain front, and raised on a projection of rustic-work, the pillars seldom extend along the whole front. The effect, eye as when the pillars clothe the whole or nearly the as Mr. Russell says, is not so pleasing or imposing to the whole of the front; "and even if the style possessed more merit than it really does, it looks like poverty of imagination, to have so much of it, and so little of anything else." On the 27th of October, thirteen days after the victory of is equally favourable. Two other travellers may be mentioned, whose judgment Jena, Buonaparte made his public entry into Berlin, and the surprise which seized upon him, when he crossed the Mr Hodgskin speaks strongly of on the following day he gave audience to the foreign minis- bridge leading into the square of the Arsenal, and beheld ters of powers in amity with France, resident in that city, at one view so many magnificent edifices; in his opinion, to the judicial bodies, which he instructed in the mode of other capitals may contain a larger absolute number of administering justice, and to the local authorities of the fine buildings than Berlin, but none has so many brought city, whom he recommended strongly to maintain a vigilant together in so small a space, with such admirable effect. police. Ascribing the war to the unrepressed audacity of Dr. Neale institutes a comparison between Berlin and the young nobility, he declared, in one of his proclama- Hamburg; we have already given our readers a short tions, that he would permit no more rioting in Berlin: "I notice of the general character of the latter place. No will not suffer any windows to be broken," said he, " brother, the king of Prussia, ceased to be a king from the cities in question. None of the offensive peculiarities in my two things can present a greater contrast than the two day when Prince Louis Ferdinand was bold enough to break the windows of his majesty's ministers: his majesty veller, in the course of sixty miles, seems to have borrowed the appearance of the latter city are here visible; the trashould have ordered him to be hanged." He alluded here to some little incidents, by which, previous to the war, the progression of the arts for four centuries, finds himself the wings of time, and outstripping the slow and gradual young Prussian noblesse had indicated their eagerness for hostilities, such as breaking the windows of the ministers city, surrounded with wide and dry streets, spacious on a sudden, placed, as it were, in the midst of an Italian supposed to be in the French interest, and going to sharpen squares, avenues, bridges, porticoes, palaces, triumphal their sabres on the threshold of the French ambassador's arches, statues, and cupolas, and, instead of the jutting door. The whole conduct of Napoleon during his occupation abutments of mean brick buildings, beholds on all sides, the of Berlin was indeed rather that of the "sworn and impla- ample proportions of stately edifices-the triumph of cable enemy," to use the expression of Sir Walter Scott, than human industry over the sterility of nature, a moderm of the " generous conqueror." by his officers and soldiers, who pursued an unremitting hyperborean deserts of Brandenburgh. His example was followed Palmyra raised by the wand of an enchanter, amidst the system of vexation towards the Prussians, which was bitterly felt at the time, and afterwards sternly revenged.

Buonaparte remained in Berlin until about the 25th of November, when he quitted to conduct a campaign against the Russians in Poland. Four days, however, before his departure, he issued those celebrated "Berlin decrees" for interdicting all commerce between Great Britain and the Continent, which formed an introduction to the famous project afterwards called the Continental System, or "the first link of a long chain of arbitrary ordinances," by which Napoleon sought to undermine the prosperity of Great Britain.

GENERAL APPEARANCE.

BERLIN is unquestionably one of the finest capitals in the world; Malte Brun calls it the best-built town in Germany, "not that the buildings display great taste, or much of elegant and fine architecture, on the contrary, it is easy to detect that German style which is the reverse of the really beautiful; but the whole is imposing, and the streets are broad and straight; everything, indeed, in this capital, bespeaks the genius of Frederick, who laid out considerable sums on its embellishment." Bishop Heber speaks of it as being, next to St. Peterburgh *, the finest city he had ever seen; and Bishop James expresses strongly the * See Saturday Magazine, Vol. V., p. 210.

THE SPREE, AND ITS BRIDGES.

We have already mentioned that Berlin is built upon the
Spree: that river rises in Lusatia, and about six miles after
it has passed through the capital, it enters the stream
of the Havel, under the walls of the fortress of Spandau.
Besides the advantages it affords as a means of cleanliness,
this river is highly valuable to the inhabitants, for the pur-
poses of commerce; a canal, which joins it about fifty miles
above Berlin, communicates with the Oder, and thus
brings down the mineral riches of Upper Silesia, and the
corn and manufactures of the middle and lower districts of
that province. This canal was constructed by that great
1662 and 1668. To the west of Berlin, the navigation is
Elector, Frederick William the Second, between the years
uninterrupted into the Havel, the Havel leads into the
Elbe, and thus the communication with the sea is complete.
The Spree is about 200 feet broad; in its course through
Berlin, it bears the only character, according to Mr.
Russell, which a small stream can bear in a large city—that
of a broad, deep, muddy ditch. The only point at which
sweeps boldly round the palace.
it has something of the dignity of a river, is where it

the principal arm of the Spree, but the greater part by far
Berlin has upwards of forty bridges,-several of them cross
* See Saturday Magazine, Vol. VII., p. 50.

serve merely to traverse the canals which communicate with it. The principal bridge is that which bears the name of Langen-brücke or Long Bridge; it connects the quarter of Berlin with that of Old Cologne, and opens on the side of the latter into the Schloss Platz, or Square of the Palace. The bridge which originally stood here, was built of wood; and in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the town-house of Berlin and Cologne was situated on it. The present structure, which is of hewn stone, was erected between the years 1692 and 1695, in the reign of the Elector Frederick the Third, or King Frederick the First; its length is 165 feet, and it consists of five arches, which are decorated with figures of Naiads, and other aquatic divinities. The roadway is paved, and has on either side a raised footpath for pedestrians. Above this rises a simple balustrade of iron. In the Thesaurus Brandeburgicus of Laurent Beger, who was librarian and keeper of medals to King Frederick the First, there is given a view of the royal palace of Berlin, taken from the Long Bridge; in this, the place of the iron balustrade is supplied by a breastwork of stone, on which stand, at intervals, six statues upon each side. Whether these really existed at the time of his publication (1696), or whether they are to be ascribed to the fancy of the artist, we cannot tell.

On an abutment projecting from the centre of the southeastern side of the bridge, or that looking up the Spree, stands a colossal equestrian bronze statue of Frederick the "Great Elector." It was modelled by André Schlüter, and cast in 1700, by John Jacobi, in the Royal foundery; and in 1703 was fixed in its present position. It is said by Mr. Russell to be a spirited but somewhat clumsy work, and Dr. Granville says that he cannot speak highly of its execution. The elector is represented in the Roman habit, with the staff of authority in his hand; his horse rests upon a pedestal of white marble, ornamented with a variety of reliefs in bronze, and with four figures of slaves of the same material, and of a size larger than life. A view of this statue and of the bridge is given in the engraving in page 128.

ITS GATES.

THE whole of the different quarters and suburbs of Berlin, with the exception of the Oranienburg, or Neuvoigtland suburb, are surrounded by a wall sixteen feet in height. Through this there are entrances from the surrounding country, to the number of fourteen; and more than one of the gates which are erected at these spots possess architectural merits. Dr. Granville notices the Potsdamer, or Leipziger Thor, (the Potsdam or Leipsic Gate,) as remarkable for its chaste and beautiful design; it consists of ten insulated pilasters fourteen feet in height, placed at short distances, and connected together by a light iron railing. It has two lodges, and leads through a large octagonal space into the Leipzig or Potsdam Street, (the Leipziger or Potsdamer Strasse.)

But the finest gate of Berlin is that which bears the name of Brandenburgh. This, the Brandenburger Thor, as it is called, is placed at the western extremity of the Unter-den-Linden, and thus opens into the quarter of Dorotheenstadt. It is highly praised by travellers; Mr. Russell calls it the most simple and majestic portal in Europe, and Dr. Granville terms it the most imposing and magnificent specimen of modern architecture in Berlin, and without exception the most colossal structure of the kind in Europe. It was built in 1789 or 1790, by an architect of the name of Langhaus, who formed it upon the model of the famous Propylæa existing in ancient times at Athens. Six lofty columns of fluted Doric, on each side, support a well-proportioned entablature, without a pediment, but surmounted by an attic; and between these pass five gateways, of which the central one is eighteen feet in width, and the others twelve feet four inches. The height of the columns is about forty-five feet, and their diameter five feet nine inches; the metopes (as the little divisions into which the space immediately above the pillars is marked out, are called,) are ornamented with bas-relief's representing the combats of the Centaurs and Lapithæ, and the attic is decorated with a similar work, exhibiting the Margrave Albert Achilles, or Albert the Third, (who lived between 1414 and 1486, and ruled over the Electorate from 1470 till the day of his death,) in the act of carrying off a standard with his own hand, in one of the many battles which he fought against the people of the free town of Nüremberg.

On the entablature stands the principal ornament of the

gate, the famous bronze figure of Victory, bearing the Prussian eagle in triumph, in a car drawn by four horses. The work is said to be very spirited; it is of large dimensions, the horses being twelve feet in height. In 1807, when Napoleon was in Berlin, it was sent to France "not more on account of its own merits than to insult the Prussians;" in 1814, on his downfall, it was returned, like many other spoils, to its rightful owners, and the restoration of so sacred a monument, as Bishop James tells us, was accompanied with the most interesting ceremonies. It had been removed from the Place de Carousel at Paris, and being conveyed hither was replaced at once in its former situation, but kept carefully concealed from sight by a covering of linen. At an appointed day the king, accompanied by his chief officers and guards, entered in solemn procession, on his return from the war; as he passed under the gate, the veil of the chariot of victory was lowered, and this trophy of Prussian valour again met the eyes of the people. At this moment the peals of ordnance echoed through the air, the martial music struck up, and the loud acclamations of the crowd were raised with a din that overwhelmed every other demonstration of public joy.

On either side of this gate there extends, as our readers will perceive from the engraving, a range of building, in the same general style; these structures have their roofs supported by eighteen smaller columns, of the height of twenty-four feet. Taking them into account, the whole breadth of the Brandenburgh-gate becomes very nearly two hundred feet. One of these buildings is used as a guard-house; the other belongs to a branch of the excise department. They do not seem to add much to the general effect of this noble portal; according to Mr. Russell they look insignificant, and somewhat encumber the imposing forms to which they are attached.

STREETS AND HOUSES.

THERE is the same general contrast to be observed in Berlin, between the ancient and modern quarters, as in every other large city. In the older parts of the capital, the streets are not so spacious and regular, nor their buildings so imposing, but they present a more lively and industrious appearance than the generality of the modern thoroughfares. The latter are straight and broad, but dull; the buildings` are not monotonous, for the houses were not erected on any regular plan, but "there is no life," to use Mr. Russell's expression, "in these long straight stone alleys, some of them a mile in length, piercing the city from one gate to another." The finest street in Berlin, and in Germany," is Unter-den-Linden, or Street of Limes, which runs for the distance of three-quarters of a mile from the Brandenburg Gate to the Royal Palace. "On the right," says Bishop James, speaking of this street, "we looked down a splendid street, shaded with a double avenue of lime-trees to the majestic portals of Brandenburg; on the left, to the Royal Palace, along a line of lofty façades, ornamented with porticoes, statues, and every variety of sculptural decoration."

This celebrated street, "which presented to my view," says Dr. Granville, "a scene far more beautiful than I had hitherto witnessed in France, Flanders, or Germany," is divided into five parallel walks by rows of lime-trees and chesnuts; the central walk is fifty feet in width, and is appropriated to pedestrians; carriages generally confine themselves to the outermost on each side, formed by the last row of trees and the houses. The most splendid shops are here to be found; and here, at particular hours, are to be seen crowds of all classes, who resort thither for the benefit of air and exercise, or idleness and curiosity. The space immediately in front of the houses in this street, as in most of the streets of Berlin, is paved; but these pretended pavements, as they are called, are characterized as the worst of all causeways, being formed of so many small rough sharp stones, that walking becomes exceedingly inconvenient, and, "with the thermometer at 80°," exquisitely painful.

This street is described as the scene of all the bustle of Berlin, but not the bustle of business, that being confined to the older parts of the city. "The strangers who frequent this walk," says Dr. Granville, “may in the course of two or three days' residence, pass in review every successive gradation among the different classes of society in Berlin." During the greater part of the day, especially on holidays, it is filled with crowds of well-dressed comfortablelooking people, streaming merrily along in both directions, or with an ice in their hands, sheltering themselves from

[graphic][merged small]

the heat, on the benches which are ranged along beneath the shade of the lime-trees. "Now and then," says a writer we have already quoted, "the king comes lounging up the alley, attended, if attended at all, by a single servant, in a very sober livery, his hands behind his back, and his eyes commonly turned towards the ground, enjoying the shade with as much plain-heartedness as the meanest of his subjects. The loungers rise from their benches as he passes; the gentlemen take off their hats; the ladies make their best curtsey. The king has a nod or a smile for everybody, and passes on in the well-grounded assurance, that every one he sees would shed his blood for him to-morrow."

SQUARES.

[ocr errors]

BERLIN has many squares, not very extensive indeed, but often surrounded by fine buildings. The want of all ornament, however, generally reduces them to mere vacant areas; they seldom present anything but a dead surface of loose parched sand, without pavement, turf, or shrubbery, and the only decoration of which they can ever boast, is a row of stunted trees. Wilhelmsplatz," says Mr. Russell," the finest of them all, the abode only of princes and peers, plunges you at once ancle-deep in sand." This square is decorated with statues of five heroes of the Seven Years' War, Schwerin, Winterfeld, Seidlitz, Keith, and Ziethen; the first four were erected by Frederick the Great, the last by Frederick William II.

66

The Gendarmes Platz, on the New Market, is another remarkable square. The chief buildings which it contains are the two churches and the new theatre. The former are both handsome, somewhat resembling each other in their porticoes and steeples; but that which is most imposing is said, by Dr. Granville, to be the French church," as it is called, or the one belonging to the French service. The porticoes are said to be almost large enough to conceal the churches themselves. "I hesitated," says Mr. Hodgskin, "to mount one of these elegant flights of steps, thinking it would only lead to a sanctuary; I did, however, and found that it was little better than a receptacle for dirt; the other was appropriated as an office to that part of the police which looks after vagrants and beggars." Our readers will perceive a representation of this church in our view of the square; we shall speak of it more particularly afterwards.

THE ROYAL PALACE.

THE edifice which goes by this name, is situated in the quarter of Old Cologne: we have alluded to its foundation already, in speaking of the growth of the city. It is an oblong building, the longest side of which is 460 feet in

length; having been erected at different periods, it is neither regular in plan, nor in the style of its architecture. The building is lofty, consisting of two principal stories and an attic, besides the basement; it has four large courts within, and is said to contain 500 apartments. Dr. Granville says that this palace forms an imposing and striking object, from its massive and colossal dimensions. Mr. Russell thinks that it has nothing to recommend it but its huge size, and its splendid furniture. The interior is, indeed, very magnificent,-all, with the exception of the simple apartment of Frederick himself, is as gorgeous as royalty could make it. According to Dr. Granville, the most favourable point of view for this edifice, is from the quay, a little below the Langen Brücke; in which not only are two whole sides of the building perceived at the same time, but the equestrian statue of Frederick William, (which we have already described,) standing on a projecting arch of the bridge, is brought into the view, "adding considerably to the grandeur and striking effect of the whole." Though this building is termed the Royal Palace, it is not the usual residence of the king; he lives generally in a much more modest-looking house in the Linden-street, and assigns the great palace to the heir apparent and his uncle.

Among the apartments of the interior there are two deserving notice; the one is the White Hall, which is 90 feet long, 50 feet in width, and 40 in height; it is decorated with statues of the Electors of Brandenburg, and serves as the room in which are held the festivals given by the court on great occasions, particularly on the marriage of any member of the royal family. The other is the Knights' Hall, so called from having been used by Frederick the First for the installation of knights. This room is splendidly decorated, and contains a superb throne. The great library is also preserved in this palace, with collections of natural history and the mechanical arts. The picturegallery, about 200 feet in length, contains nearly 300 paintings, mostly belonging to the Flemish and German schools.

CHURCHES.

THE churches of Berlin are about thirty in number; none of them are particularly remarkable for architectural merit. There is a church of St. Hedewige, which is built upon the model of the Pantheon at Rome; it was erected between the years 1747 and 1755. It is one of the few Roman Catholic churches in Berlin,-the greater part belonging to the Lutheran persuasion; many years elapsed after the period of its erection, before the interior was finished. The church of Saint Mary is said to have stood since the thirteenth century; it is remarkable for a fine marble pulpit of exquisite workmanship. The tower of this

church, which was erected between the years 1663 and 1666, is the loftiest in Berlin; its height is between 290 and 300 feet. The church of St. Nicholas is, perhaps, the oldest in Berlin, having been in existence in 1202; it is also remarkable for its tower, and for the ancient monuments which it contains.

The French church, of which we have already spoken generally, is one of five which exist in Berlin for the use of the French protestants in that city, or, as they are called, "the French colony." So early as the middle of the seventeenth century, there was a considerable number of the subjects of France settled in Berlin, where they then possessed a church of their own, and enjoyed the free exercise of their religion; but after the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685, they resorted thither by thousands, to escape the cruel persecutions of Louis the Fourteenth. Several privileges were granted to them, and in the year 1747, their number was estimated at 7193; it is now upwards of 15,000.

The church represented in our engraving was built in the year 1705; its plan is in the form of a cross, having three sides ornamented with Corinthian columns. The portico attached to the principal front consists of six pillars of the same order; under it is the great entrance, with two niches on either side, containing the colossal statues of four apostles, above which are bas-reliefs representing the principal events in the life of our Saviour. The pediment, which is large, rests on an unadorned frieze and cornice, "and is in keeping," says Dr. Granville, "with the rest of the elevation;" it is decorated with statues referring to scriptural subjects. Immediately behind it is the square base which forms the commencement of the tower, and which is also decorated with statues of the Evangelists. Above this is a circular Corinthian colonnade, surmounted by a balustrade; and higher still is the dome itself, crowned with an allegorical figure of religion, of colossal size, and formed of bronze richly gilt. The height of this dome and tower, which were only completed in the year 1785, is 230 feet including the statue. "For grandeur and magnificence of exterior," says Dr. Granville," this noble elevation is far superior to any of the modern churches lately erected in London."

The church of the garrison, which is situated in the Berlin quarter, was built by the king Frederick William the First in the year 1722, in the room of the smaller edifice originally built by his predecessor King Frederick the First in 1701, and afterwards destroyed in 1720. The nave of this church was at one time decorated with a number of banners and trophies, captured by the Prussians in the wars of Silesia, but in 1806, after the entry of the French into Berlin, all of them were sent off to Paris. For eight years they continued to adorn the church of the Invalides in that city; they were then destroyed on the first invasion of France by the allies, "in order," says Malte Brun," that their armies might not carry off the fruits of a conquest dearly bought with the blood of France." The organ of this church used to be celebrated.

OTHER PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

Ar the head of the other public buildings of Berlin, may be placed the splendid museum which has been recently erected in the gardens, at the back of the Royal Palace. The front of this magnificent edifice is 280 feet in length; a noble portico of eighteen Ionic columns extends along the whole of it, and is approached by a broad flight of steps. Above the portico, is a part of the body of the building, rising in the form of a square, and ornamented at each of the corners with a group of man and horse, something similar to the famous statues in the Monte Cavallo at Rome. This building rests entirely on piles, the soil being too swampy to afford a firm foundation. The interior is rich in treasures of art, containing selected portions of the several collections previously preserved in the different royal palaces of Berlin and Potsdam. The picture-gallery is very fine, as are also the collections of ancient sculpture,coins, medals, cameos, mosaics, and other articles of rarity and value. This museum is a recent erection, having only been completed in 1829.

The arsenal of Berlin is a very handsome building; Malte Brun calls it the finest after the palace, and Mr. Russell gives it the very first rank,-even above that, "Though it has neither porticoes nor pillars," it is, he says, "the finest building in Berlin; the extent and simplicity of its fronts are majestic, and its military trophies, and emblematical groups, display a great deal of good workman

ship." The building stands by itself in the form of a square, having each of its faces nearly 300 feet in length; it was founded in 1695, by the Elector Frederick the Third, afterwards King Frederick the First. It consists of only two stories, the uppermost of which is surmounted by a balustrade; the lower story is in the rustic style, and over the key-stone of each of its arched windows, is a bronze helmet. The chief entrance is ornamented with four allegorical statues, representing Arithmetic, Geometry, Mechanics, ard Pyrotechny,-the work, we are very needlessly told, of an inferior sculptor,-a French artist. There is a little portico over this entry, presenting a bronze portrait of the King Frederick the First, and a bas-relief of the God of War, reposing on military emblems, and surrounded by chained slaves. These, and other equally significant decorations, announce with sufficient clearness the character and uses of the building; but all possibility of doubt is removed by the string of half-buried cannons, which are stuck at short intervals all round its four sides, to form a support like so many posts to an iron chain. The interior is well supplied; the basement story contains the great guns, mortars, howitzers, and all their necessary accompaniments, while the rooms on the upper floor are appropriated to the reception of muskets, and small arms,-sabres, swords, bayonets, &c. There were at one time some specimens of ancient armour, and trophies of early victories gained by the Prussians; but the Russians destroyed them all in 1760, or carried them away. Malte Brun says that this is supposed to be the largest arsenal in Europe, as it can contain arms and ammunition for an army of 200,000 men.

66

[ocr errors]

Not far from the arsenal is a colossal statue of Blücher, placed on a pedestal, bearing on its front the inscription,Frederick William III. to Field-Marshal Prince Blücher of Wahlstadt, in the year 1826." It was erected on the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, amidst the enthusiastic applause of the whole population of Berlin: for that marshal was the greatest military favourite of the Prussians since their Great King. "They seldom gave him any other name," says Mr. Russell, "than Marshal Forward, and love to place him and Guiesenau in the same relation to each other in which the Romans set Fabius and Marcellus." The figure is eleven feet in height; and the old veteran is represented in the act of pressing his left foot on a dismounted cannon, and grasping a sabre in his right hand. The work is spoken of very highly; its design, says Dr. Granville, is chaste, and generally correct. It is the work of the most famous German sculptor of late years, Rauch, who is particularly remarkable for the improvements which he has introduced upon the style of his predecessors, in the drapery of his figures. In the present instance, by the skilful disposition of a military cloak thrown over the shoulder, he has avoided the necessity which encumbered previous artists, of copying with serupulous fidelity, the hussar-jackets, the Prussian pantaloons, the Hessian boots, and all the other multifarious trappings of the military uniform, in which the living heroes whom their art was to commemorate were usually decked.

We may here speak of the military monument which is erected without the walls of Berlin, at the distance of about half a mile from the Halle-Gate; it was raised by the king in 1820, to commemorate the exertions of his people in the triumphant campaigns which terminated the late war. It is a Gothic structure of iron, resting upon a terrace, which commands an extensive view of the surrounding country; and it contains twelve chapels, or recesses, which are consecrated to the memory of the twelve principal battles of the campaigns of 1813, 1814, and 1815;-those of the "Liberation War," as it is commonly called. The inscription placed upon this monument is to the following effect; "The sovereign to his people, who, at his summons, magnanimously poured forth their blood and treasure for their country. In memory of the fallen-in gratitude to the living-as an excitement to every future generation."

UNIVERSITY, &c.

THE University of Berlin was founded in the year 1810, principally at the instance of Professor Wolff, the wellknown philologist. This learned person formerly filled a chair in the University of Halle; and when Bonaparte suppressed that establishment after the battle of Jena, the professor repaired at once to Berlin, intent upon establishing a new university in the capital. The king favoured the proposal, "but Stein," says Mr. Russell, "who was then minister, could not reconcile his ideas of academical tranquillity with the bustle and pleasures of a large capital;

« AnteriorContinuar »