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BERLIN.
History.
enhanced by the enthusiasm and refined artistic taste of the king
himself, who often acted as his own architect. The prospect, how¬
ever, was not entirely realised. The building of a cathedral, the
king's favourite project, and of the royal burial vault (Campo
Santo) was never carried out; and although the architecture of the
city was enriched by the completion of the New Museum, the dome
of the palace, and numerous other edifices, most of them lack the
imposing grandeur of Schinkel's creations. The leading architects
of this period were F. A. Stiller (d. 1865), to whom most of the
government-buildings were entrusted, Soller (d. 1853; St. Michael's
Church; p. 169), K. F. Langhans (d. 1869; remodelling of the Opera
House; p. 58), Struck (d. 1880; St. Peter's; p. 158), Knoblauch
(d. 1865), and Hitzig (d. 1881), the last two chiefly eminent in the
field of domestic architecture. — In the department of painting
also the revival which had been anticipated from the presence of
Cornelius (from 1841; d. 1867; p. 92) and Kaulbach (d. 1874;
p. 78) was never realised; while the originality of Ad. Menzel
(p. 92) was not duly appreciated. To the labours of Rauch, on the
other hand, whose masterpiece, the statue of Frederick the Great,
is justly admired, and to those of his numerous pupils (Drake,
Blaser, A. Wolff, Kiss, etc.), the art of sculpture was indebted
for its high repute during this reign. — After the introduction of
railways Berlin increased rapidly in importance as a commercial
and industrial centre. In 1849 the population was 424,000, and in
1860 it had increased to 496,000.
During the reign of the Emperor William I. (Prince Regent
from 1858, King 1861-88) the prosperity of Berlin made still more
rapid strides. In 1871, indeed, began that marvellous activity in
industry and commerce which has obtained for Berlin a place among
the great capitals of the world with a rapidity hitherto unknown
except in the case of American towns. The population (826,000 in
1871, 1,000,000 in 1877, 1,500,000 in 1888) was trebled, and by the
end of the 19th cent., under the Emperors Frederick III. (1888)
and William II. (ascended the throne June 5th, 1888), it had risen
to a sum total (including the suburbs) of 3,000,000.
Art also has revived, especially in the department of architec¬
ture. The Rathaus or Town Hall (begun in 1859; p. 151), the Ex¬
change (p. 154), and the New Synagogue (p. 145) were the first of a
long series of imposing edifices, in which a complete revolution in
taste manifests itself. The prevailing tendency is to attach more
importance to solidity of material and the artistic ornamentation of
the interior, and to use colour more freely. Since 1870 the classic
tradition of Schinkel has been supplanted by a strong leaning
towards the Renaissance, though the Italian style proper has
seldom been followed. The baroque-like forms of the later Ger¬
man Renaissance were found more congenial, and the pronounced