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BERLIN. History of Art.
Contemporaneously with the rise of architecture the Applied
Arts, which since the misfortunes of Napoleon's time had made no pro¬
gress, received a stimulating impetus towards the picturesque style
of the Renaissance. The increasing prosperity of the town after
1870 caused a demand for more luxurious and more artistic domestic
interiors. The Museum of Industrial Art (p. 132), founded in 1868,
made its influence strongly felt in this field. The increased activity
in this branch of art is shown not only by the extraordinary multipli¬
cation of artistic upholsterers and the like, but also by the long list
of excellent artists who devote themselves in whole or part to decor¬
ative art. Among these may be mentioned, besides architects, the
painters Doepler, Koch, Lechter, and the sculptors 0. Lessing,
Wiedman, and Vogel. Chandeliers and artistic designs in brackets
for gas and electric lighting are nowhere better made than in Berlin;
while cabinet-making and carpet-weaving hold a high place among
the industries of the city. The arts of the jeweller and the gold¬
smith, enamelling, and the manufacture of brass and bronze articles,
are also carried on very successfully. The Royal Porcelain Factory
is meutioned at p. 181.
As regards the General Aspect, Berlin suffers from the
dead level of its site, and also, since three-quarters of its buildings
are quite modern, from a certain lack of historical interest. The
Church of St. Nicholas (p. 157), the Church of St. Mary (p. 153), the
Kloster-Kirche (p. 156), and the Chapel of the Holy Ghost (p. 154)
are practically the only buildings remaining of the old town (p. 46),
which consisted of some narrow, crooked streets of dwelling-houses
(pp. 147, 152), and a few larger cloisters and hospitals grouped
round the two Town Halls. With improved means of locomotion the
inner town has now gradually become the commercial nucleus of
Berlin, like the City in London. Immense and palatial buildings
have arisen, occupied from floor to ceiling by business offices and
warerooms alone. The approaches to the old town have been
widened, new ones have been built, and the Spree has been cleared
of obstructions. The neighbourhood of the Royal Palace (p. 65)
has been remodelled in harmony with the baroque forms of the
palace itself. The Lustgarten, the Opern-Platz, and the Linden
together form a broad and magnificent thoroughfare of the first
rank, such as may possibly be paralleled in Vienna, but certainly not
in either London or Paris. The street known as Unter den Linden
(p. 55), which had hardly lived up to its. ancient reputation, has again
become one of the chief arteries of traffic. The old houses are dis¬
appearing, magnificent hotels and business premises have sprung
up, while the avenues of trees and the footpaths have been altered
and modernized. The system on which the Friedrichstadt, to the
S. of the Linden, is laid out, points to its origin in the mere will of