BERLIN 565 tracing the Infant Christ ; " and Nicolas Pous- I sin's " Landscape, with the Story of Juno and Argus." In the rear of the old museum, and connected with it by an arched passage, is the new museum designed by Staler, with gorgeous internal decorations. On the ground floor are the northern, and on the right side of the great staircase the Egyptian antiquities. The former include an extensive ethnological collection, with relics of almost all civilized and barbarous nations ; and the latter,' comprising the Egyptological collection of Lepsius, is ar- ranged in its inner court after the model of an Egyptian temple, the entrance, with 16 large | colored pillars, being an imitation of the temple | of Karnak, and the chamber of tombs of part of the necropolis of Memphis. The extent of this Egyptological collection is as remarkable as its admirable arrangement. In the centre of the new building is a lofty hall decorated with paintings by pupils of Kaulbach after that af- tist's designs. On the first floor are casts of statuary from the earliest Greek masters down to Thorwaldsen. Half of the upper floor is oc- cupied by the cabinet of drawings and engrav- ings, including the original outline for the ca- thedral of Cologne ; and the other half is used for the chamber of art (Kungtkammer), with historical and other art collections, chronologi- cally arranged. It is especially rich in na- tional relics, and also contains works by Albert Diirer, an ivory crucifix ascribed to Michel Angelo, and many fine old ivories, enamelled reliquaries, and curious minerals. The royal theatre (Konigliches Schauspielhaus), for the The Eoyal Theatre. performance of German and French plays, situated between two churches on the Gen- darmes square, has the stage on the second floor and a concert room accommodating over 1,200 persons ; it was built by Schinkel in 1819, and is decorated with mythological stat- uary by Rauch and Tieck. The subscription balls which take place here in winter are great events for the fashionable world. The Italian opera house, rebuilt since 1845 after the destruction of the old building by fire, holds about 2,000 persons, and is a splendid struc- ture near the Linden. The Wallner thea- tre is popular among the educated classes for burlesque and farces ; and the Friedrich-Wil- helmstadtisches theatre, for low comedy, has less select audiences. The architectural acad- emy (Bawchule), south of the Schlossbrucke, is one of the most striking and original mas- terworks of Schinkel, and contains some of that artist's paintings and statuary. The acad- emy of fine arts, in the Linden, is the seat of the new national gallery of paintings and of annual exhibitions of modern paintings. Count Raczynski's gallery, on the Exercierplatz, out- side the Brandenburg gate, contains many fine modern German paintings ; and in the Ravene cabinet, in the Neue Griinstrasse, is an excellent small collection of both French and German modern works. The academy of music is fa- mous for annual concerts given in the Grecian wing of the building, and especially for the performance of sacred vocal music. The Thier- garten, extending from the Brandenburg gate almost to Charlottenburg, is a fine park with delightful pleasure grounds, and a celebrated place of recreation. Among the other most popular resorts are Kroll's gardens. Similar establishments are the Odeon, the Hofjager, the Moritzhof, and Albrechtshof, S. of the Potsdam gate. N. E. of the city is the new Friedrichshain. All these and many other establishments are famous for their music and sociability. The less prosperous classes fre- quent the Hasenheide on the south and Mo- abit on the west of Berlin. On the one hun- dredth anniversary of Alexander von Hum- boldt's birth, Sept. 14, 1869, the corner stone of a monument to his memory was laid in a new park in the suburbs of the city, to be called "Humboldt Grove." On the left of the New Park, outside the King's gate, is one of the most beautiful cemeteries. Among the others are the old Dorotheenstadt, with the graves of Fichte and Hegel ; the old Dreifal- tigkeits-Kirchhof, with that of Mendelssohn- Bartholdy ; the new Dreifaltigkeits-Kirchhof, with those of Schleiermacher, Neander, Lud- wick Tieck, and Varnhagen von Ense ; and the Invaliden-Kirchhof, where Scharnhorst and other military men are buried. Berlin abounds with monuments in honor of Prussian kings and soldiers. The most celebrated of them is the equestrian bronze statue of Frederick the Great, by Rauch, on a granite pedestal 25 feet high, erected in 1851 in the Linden oppo- site the university. The Friedensdenkmal, by Rauch, is near the Halle gate ; and the Volks- denkmal or People's monument is beyond that gate on the Kreuzberg, so called from a Gothic cross of cast iron on its summit, which is almost the only eminence near the city. The national monument in honor of those who full in 1848-'9, in the Invalidenpark, was un- veiled in 1854, and the Schiller monument in 1871. Numerous scientific, artistic, literary, and educational institutions attest the intellect- ual activity of Berlin. The renowned universi-
Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/585
This page needs to be proofread.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/The_American_Cyclop%C3%A6dia_%281879%29_Volume_II.djvu/page585-1024px-The_American_Cyclop%C3%A6dia_%281879%29_Volume_II.djvu.jpg)