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A STBOIiL THROUGH BEBUN. 19
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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" ' ' ¦ ..» _ Part I.
threatened its final _destruction . Such was Berlin in 1640 , when Frederick Williamsucceeded to the government . In ten years' time
, he had concluded a general peace , and then began in earnest the renovation of his capital . The city was greatly enlarged , and the
dwellings improved ; the streets re-paved and lighted , a law being passed ordaining that a lantern should be hung out at every third
house ; new fortifications were erected , and a system of precautions and protection against fire adopted . Nor was he alone in this right
regal work : his wife , the Princess Dorothea , was a worthy helpmeet . The name of the Dorotheen-Stadt , a district reclaimed from
the sandy waste , and now covered with well-built streets , still commemorates its founder , and the famous promenade Unter den Linden
also owes its origin to her . At the end of their reign , Berlin had grown to twice its former dimensions , and was well paved , lighted
fortified , and beautified throughout . It was under the auspices of _^ the same princely pair that this Lustgarten first became a
pleasureground , and though King Frederick William I . afterwards converted it into a dusty parade-ground , it has since been restored to its
former use , and spreads forth before the monuments of art the living beauties of nature . The only artificial ornament ( except the
central fountain , which offers nothing remarkable , ) is an enormous granite basintwenty-two feet in diameterformed out of a single
, , block , and of which the Berliners are very proud , looking on it as a national masterpiece . It stands immediately in front of the " Old
Museum" as it is called , not on account of its antiquity , for it was only founded in 1828 but simply in contrast to an addition to it
which has since sprung , into existence , and which bears the name of the New Museum . It is a large rectangular building in the purest
Greek style , having a long range of lofty Ionic columns stretching along its front till the idea of height is lost in that of breadth , the .
walls of the vestibule behind them being adorned with frescoes as ; fresh-looking as though finished only yesterday . The perfect
preservation of these exposed pictures offers , indeed , a very favourable testimony to the climate of Berlinandit may be addedto the
, , , character of the Berliners too , as far as regards freedom from destructive propensities , but it seems a pity that the subject of the
whole series , the _DevelojDment of the Human Hace , should havebeen treated in so recondite and allegorical a mannerthat thev
, meaning can only be deciphered by the help of an elaborate de- _>; scription . At the top of the steps stands that famous Amazon and .
Tiger group of Kiss , which won so much admiration at our Great-Exhibition of 1851 and the corresponding opposite space is
_, destined to receive a fellow group of a Horseman struggling with a Lion . Within the Museum is a magnificent collection of pictures
admirably arranged , by Professor Waagen , according to the different schools of art represented . Admission , daily , is free to all _; and . on
the wall of each room hangs a catalogue of all the pictures therein exhibited . Days , not half-hours , are needed here , so I reluctantly c 2
A Stboiil Through Bebun. 19
A STBOIiL THROUGH BEBUN . 19
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), March 2, 1863, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_02031863/page/19/
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