Northern Lands; Or, Young America in Russia and PrussiaOptic, Oliver
General
Northern Lands; Or, Young America in Russia and Prussia
Optic, Oliver
Prussia (Germany) -- Description and travel -- Juvenile fiction; Russia -- Description and travel -- Juvenile fiction
Not far from the mill is the orangery of the palace, and the Raphael
Saloon. The New Palace is the one built by Frederick the Great at
the close of the Seven Years' War, to prove that his funds were not
exhausted. It contains seventy-two apartments, many of them very
gaudy. Some have walls and floors of fantastic marble mosaics. There
is a hall whose walls are all composed of shells, and in one various
kinds of minerals are inlaid on the sides. Some relics of the great
monarch are shown. In the library is a copy of his works, with notes
and criticisms by Voltaire, whom Frederick admired and invited to
his palace. The New Palace is now one of the residences of the crown
prince, Frederick, who married the Princess Royal of England. In the
Antique Temple, near it, is a statue of Queen Louisa, the work of
Rauch, who labored fifteen years upon it, and it is regarded as even
superior to the one on her tomb.
From this palace the company went to the Garrison Church, where, under
the marble pulpit, above ground, is the tomb of Frederick the Great
and Frederick William I. The sexton opens the tomb, and visitors are
permitted to gaze upon the coffins of the two monarchs. That of the
great king is a large and perfectly plain metallic coffin. His sword
formerly lay upon it, but was stolen by Napoleon, who visited the tomb.
On each side of the pulpit hang the eagles and standards taken from
the French by the Prussians, and their presence seems to be a just
retaliation for the theft.
The old Royal Palace, or _Residenz_, commenced in 1660, is a very large
building, with interminable suites of rooms, some of them occasionally
used at the present time. Within it are shown several articles
belonging to Frederick the Great, as one of his flutes, some music
composed by him, and his old boots. His little dining-room contains
a table, in which is a slide, to enable him to dispense with the
attendance of a servant. The apartment is provided with double doors,
so that he could entertain a friend without being over-heard.
The party then returned to Berlin before five in the afternoon. At
quarter of eight in the evening, they took places in the _schnellzug_,
or fast train and arrived at Dresden about half past twelve. In half
an hour more, most of them were asleep at the Hotels de Bellevue,
Victoria, Saxe, and Stadt. The Bellevue, on the bank of the Elbe, is
one of the pleasantest and best kept hotels in Europe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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