BERLIN

berlin, the largest city of the german empire, the capital of the kingdom of prussia. it is the principal residence of the german emperor and king of prussia, the seat of the imperial parliament (_reichstag_) and the prussian diet (_landtag_) and of the state offices of the empire, except of the supreme court of justice (_reichsgericht_), which is fixed at leipzig. it lies in a flat, sandy plain, 110 ft. above sea-level, on both banks of the navigable spree, which intersects it from s.e. to n.w. the highest elevation in the immediate neighbourhood is the kreuzberg (200 ft.), a hill in the southern suburb of schoneberg, which commands a fine view of the city. the situation of berlin, midway between the elbe and the oder, with which rivers it is connected by a web of waterways, at the crossing of the main roads from silesia and poland to the north sea ports and from saxony, bohemia and thuringia to the baltic, made it in medieval days a place of considerable commercial importance. in modern times the great network of railways, of which it is the centre and which mainly follow the lines of the old roads, further established its position. almost equidistant from the remotest frontiers of prussia, from north to south, and from east to west, 180 m. from hamburg and 84 from stettin, its situation, so far from being prejudicial to its growth and prosperity, as was formerly often asserted, has been, in fact, the principal determining factor in its rapid rise to the position of the greatest industrial and commercial city on the continent of europe. in point of wealth and population it ranks immediately after london and paris. the boundaries of the city have not been essentially extended since 1860, and though large and important suburbs have crept up and practically merged with it, its administrative area remains unchanged. it occupies about 29 sq. m., and has a length from e. to w. of 6 and a breadth from n. to s. of 5-1/2 m., contains nearly 1000 streets, has 87 squares and open spaces, 73 bridges and a population (1905) of 2,033,900 (including a garrison of about 22,000). if, however, the outer police district, known as "greater berlin," embracing an area of about 10 m. radius from the centre, be included, the population amounts to about 3-1/4 millions. berlin is essentially a modern city, the quaint two-storied houses, which formerly characterized it, having given place to palatial business blocks, which somewhat dwarf the streets and squares, which once had an air of stately spaciousness. the bustle of the modern commercial city has superseded the austere dignity of the old prussian capital. thus the stranger entering it for the first time will find little to remind him of its past history. the oldest part of berlin, the city and alt-kolln, built along the arms of the spree, is, together with that portion of the town lying immediately west, the centre of business activity. the west end and the south-west are the residential quarters, the north-west is largely occupied by academic, scientific and military institutions, the north is the seat of machinery works, the north-east of the woollen manufactures, the east and south-east of the dyeing, furniture and metal industries, while in the south are great barracks and railway works. in 1870 berlin was practically bounded on the south by the landwehr canal, but it has since extended far beyond, and the tempelhofer feld, where military reviews are held, then practically in the country, is now surrounded by a dense belt of houses. the landwehr canal, leaving the spree near the schlesische tor (gate), and rejoining it at charlottenburg, after a course of 6 m., adds not a little to the charm of the southern and western districts, being flanked by fine boulevards and crossed by many handsome bridges. the object of this canal was to relieve the congestion of the water traffic in the heart of berlin. it was superseded, however, in its turn by a new broad and deep canal opened in 1906, lying from 3 to 4 m. farther south. this, the teltow canal, leaves the spree above berlin at kopenick, and running south of rixdorf, sudende and gross-lichterfelde, enters the havel at teltow. this important engineering work was planned not only to afford a more convenient waterway between the upper spree and the havel (and thus to the elbe), but was to remove from the city to its banks and vicinity those factories of which the noxious gases and other poisonous emanations were regarded as dangerous to the health of the community. a dislocation of the manufacturing factors has therefore been in progress, which with the creation of a "trans tiberim" (as in ancient rome) is, in many respects, altering the character and aspect of the metropolis. the effect upon berlin of the successful issue of the franco-prussian war of 1870-71 was electrical. the old prussian capital girded itself at once to fulfil its new role. the concentration upon the city of a large garrison flushed with victory, and eager to emulate the vanquished foe in works of peace, and vie with them in luxury, was an incentive to berliners to put forth all their energy. besides the military, a tremendous immigration of civilian officials took place as the result of the new conditions, and, as accommodation was not readily available, rents rose to an enormous figure. doubts were often expressed whether the capital would be able to bear the burden of empire, so enormous was the influx of new citizens. it is due to the magnificent services of the municipal council that the city was enabled to assimilate the hosts of newcomers, and it is to its indefatigable exertions that berlin has in point of organization become the model city of europe. in no other has public money been expended with such enlightened discretion, and in no other has the municipal system kept pace with such rapid growth and displayed greater resource in emergencies. in 1870 the sanitary conditions of berlin were the worst of any city of europe. it needed a virchow to open the eyes of the municipality to the terrible waste of life such a state of things entailed. but open sewers, public pumps, cobble-paved roads, open market-places and overcrowded subterranean dwellings are now abolished. the city is excellently drained, well-paved, well-lighted and furnished with an abundant supply of filtered water, while the cellar dwellings have given place to light and airy tenements, and berlin justly claims to rank among the cleanest and healthiest capitals in europe. the year 1878 marks a fresh starting-point in the development of the city. in that year berlin was the meeting-place of the congress which bears its name. the recognition of germany as a leading factor in the world's counsels had been given, and the people of berlin could indulge in the task of embellishing the capital in a manner befitting its position. from this time forward, state, municipal and private enterprise have worked hand in hand to make the capital cosmopolitan. the position it has at length attained is due not alone to the enterprise of its citizens and the municipality. the brilliancy of the court and the triumph of the sense of unity in the german nation over the particularism of the smaller german states have conduced more than all else to bring about this result. it has become the chief pleasure town of germany; and though the standard of morality, owing to the enormous influx of people bent on amusement, has become lower, yet there is so much healthy, strenuous activity in intellectual life and commercial rivalry as to entitle it, despite many moral deficiencies, to be regarded as the centre of life and learning in germany. dr a. shadwell (_industrial efficiency_, london, 1906) describes it as representing "the most complete application of science, order and method of public life," adding "it is a marvel of civic administration, the most modern and most perfectly organized city that there is." _streets._--the social and official life of the capital centres round unter den linden, which runs from the royal palace to the brandenburger tor. this street, one of the finest and most spacious in europe, nearly a mile in length, its double avenue divided by a favourite promenade, planted with lime trees, presents berlin life in all its varying aspects. many historical events have taken place in this famous boulevard, notably the entry of the troops in 1871, and the funeral pageant of the emperor willaim i. south of unter den linden lies the friedrichstadt, with its parallel lines of straight streets, including the behren-strasse--(the seat of finance)--the wilhelm-strasse, with the palace of the imperial chancellor, the british embassy, and many government offices--the official quarter of the capital--and the busy leipziger-strasse, running from the potsdamer-platz to the donhoff-platz. this great artery and unter den linden are crossed at right angles by the friedrich-strasse, 2 m. long, flanked by attractive shops and restaurants, among them the beer palaces of the great breweries. in the city proper, the konig-strasse and the kaiser-wilhelm-strasse, the latter a continuation of unter den linden, are the chief streets; while in the fashionable south-west quarter viktoria-strasse, bellevue-strasse, potsdamer-strasse and kurfursten-strasse and the kurfurstendamm are the most imposing. among the most important public squares are the opern-platz, around or near which stand the opera house, the royal library, the university and the armoury; the gendarmen-markt, with the royal theatre in its centre, the schloss-platz; the lustgarten, between the north side of the royal palace, the cathedral and the old and new museums; the pariser-platz with the french embassy, at the brandenburg gate; the konigs-platz, with the column of victory, the reichstagsgebaude and the bismarck and moltke monuments; the wilhelms-platz; the circular belle-alliance-platz, with a column commemorating the battle of waterloo; and, in the western district, the spacious lutzow-platz. _bridges._--of the numerous bridges, the most remarkable are the schloss-brucke, built after designs by schinkel in 1822-1824, with eight colossal figures of white marble, representing ideal stages in a warrior's life, the work of drake, albert wolff and other eminent sculptors; the kurfursten--or lange-brucke, built 1692-1695, and restored in 1895, with an equestrian statue of the great elector, and the kaiser-wilhelm-brucke (1886-1889) connecting the lustgarten with the kaiser-wilhelm-strasse in the inner town. in the modern residential quarter are the potsdamer-viktoria-brucke, which carries the traffic from two converging streets into the outer potsdamer-strasse, and the herkules-brucke connecting the lutzow-platz with the tiergarten. the first three cross the spree and the last two the landwehr canal. _churches._--berlin, until the last half of the 10th century, was in respect of its churches probably the poorest of the capitals of christendom, and the number of worshippers on an average sunday was then less than 2% of the population. the city now contains over a hundred places of worship, of which ten are roman catholic, and nine jewish synagogues. of the older evangelical churches but four date from medieval days, and of them only the marien-kirche, with a tomb of field marshal o.c. von sparr (1605-1665), and the nikolai-kirche are particularly noteworthy. of a later date, though of no great pretensions to architectural merit, are the petri-kirche with a lofty spire, the franzosische-kirche and the neue-kirche with dome-capped towers, on the gendarmen-markt, and the round, roman catholic st hedwigs--kirche behind the opera-house. the garrison church in the centre of the city, which was erected in 1722 and contained numerous historical trophies, was destroyed by fire in 1908. of modern erections the new cathedral (_dom_), on the spree, which replaces the old building pulled down in 1853, stands first. it is a clumsy, though somewhat imposing edifice of sandstone in italian renaissance style, and has a dome rising, with the lantern, to a height of 380 ft. the kaiser-wilhelm-gedachtnis-kirche (in the suburb charlottenburg) with a lofty spire, the dankes-kirche (in commemoration of the emperor william i.'s escape from the hand of the assassin, nobiling, in 1878) in wedding, and the kaiser-friedrich-gedachtnis-kirche on a grassy knoll in the north of the tiergarten are also worthy of notice. in the monbijou park, on the north bank of the spree, is the pretty english church of st george. the main jewish synagogue, a fine building in oriental style, erected in 1866, stands in a commanding position in the oranienburger-strasse and is remarkable for its stained glass. berlin was a walled city until 1867-1868. of the former nineteen city gates only one remains, the brandenburg gate (1789-1793), an imitation of the propylaea at athens. it is 201 ft. broad and nearly 65 ft. high, and is supported by twelve doric columns, each 44 ft. in height, and surmounted by a car of victory (auriga), which, taken by napoleon to paris in 1807, was brought back by the prussians in 1814. the gate has been enlarged by two lateral colonnades, each supported by sixteen columns. _public buildings._--in secular buildings berlin is very rich. entering the city at the potsdam gate, traversing a few hundred yards of the leipziger-strasse, turning into wilhelm-strasse, and following it to unter den linden, then beginning at the brandenburg gate and proceeding down unter den linden to its end, one passes, among other buildings, the following, many of them of great architectural merit--the admiralty, the ministry of commerce, the ministry of war, the ministry of public works, the palace of prince frederick leopold, the palace of the imperial chancellor, the foreign office, the ministry of justice, the residences of the ministers of the interior and of public worship, the french and the russian embassies, the arcade, the palace of the emperor william i., the university, the royal library, the opera, the armoury, the palace of the emperor frederick iii., the schloss-brucke, the royal palace, the old and new museums and the national gallery. at a short distance from this line are the new town-hall, the mint, the imperial bank and the royal theatre. berlin differs from all other great capitals in this respect that with the exception of the royal palace, which dates from the 16th century, all its public buildings are modern. this palace, standing in the very heart of the city, is a huge quadrangular building, with four courts, and is surmounted by a dome 220 ft. high. it contains more than 600 rooms and halls; among the latter the weisse-saal used for great court pageants, the halls of the chapters of the black and the red eagle orders, a picture gallery and a chapel. the first floor overlooking the schloss-platz is the berlin residence of the emperor, and that square is embellished by a huge fountain (neptuns-brunnen) by r. begas. facing the west portal is the monument to the emperor william