GERMANY'S SIXTY PALACES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2975, 22 March 1911, Page 85

GERMANY'S SIXTY PALACES.

In the Munsey for February is an illustrated article by Mr P. Cunliffe Owen on the 60 palaces of the German Empire. Most of them are public property, and some are situated in States which have been incorporated in the empire since the Franco-Prussian war. Interesting stories are told about several of the famous palaces. The Schloss, in Berlin, is the present Kaiser's town residence. It stands on the public thoroughfare, without garden or park to separate it from the traffic of the street. Neither his father (Frederick) nor grandfather (William) lived in it. Strong as German patriotism undoubtedly is, the people of the .Prussian metropolis have never been very friendly to the house of Hohenzollern, and have repeatedly attacked the Schloss. That this hostile sentiment still persists is shown by the fact that the municipality of Berlin is just as radical in politics today as in former times, and declines to sanction the expropriations necessary to enable the sovereign to surround his palace with a garden. The Weiss© Saal, or White Hall,, is perhaps the finest apartment of the palace, its length being more than 100 ft, its height 60ft, and its width 50ft. It is there that ' the Kaiser delivers the addresses from the throne inaugurating the sessions of the German Reichstag and of the Prussian Landtag. It is there, too, that dancing takes place on the occasion of the state balls. The most interesting and the most beautiful of all the state apartments is the Rittersaal, or Hall of Knights, the finest example in existence of rococo decoration. The immense rock-crystal chandelier by which it is lighted formerly' illuminated the assembly hall of the Imperial Diet at Worms, and Martin Luther stood be neath it when he appeared before the Diet in 1521. The palace of the Crown Prince looks out on the great avenue known as "Unter den Linden." One of its peculiar features is a big horseshoe, which is cemented into the wall between two of the diningroom windows. Some time before the present Kaiser's' accession to the throne, when his father was Crown Prince, he

was invited to dine with his parents. Finding that he was very late, and know- ! ing their strictness on the score of punc- ' tuality, he ordered his coachman to drive fast, and the carriage positively raced up • the incline to the portecochere. Suddenly one of the\big Mecklenburg horses lost his shoe, which flew into the air, crashed through a window, and fell upon the '• dinner table, in front of Frederick and the Crown Princess, who, declining to wait any longer, had just sat down fit the table. This curious incident, and the fact that no one was hurt by the heavy iron horseshoe, seemed to the Crown Prince, and to his wife and children, to be a sign of good luck. At the suggestion of the pre- • sent Emperor, the shoe was fastened .to the wall outside—upside down, so as to prevent the luck dropping out. In 1763 the new palace at Potsdam was erected by Frederick the Great, to rival Versailles. When he had finished the building he caused the crown of glory to be made, and fixed above its dome. The crown is supported by three completely undraped figures representing the Empress Elizabeth of Russia, the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, and Mme. de Pompadour, who virtually ruled France—the three women whom the Prussian King ' regarded as his chief enemies. Adding injur" to insult, he caused them to be perched up aloft, upholding the crown of Prussia, with their backs turned to their respective countries. The Neues Palais may be described as the Prussian counterpart, of Windsor Castle in England. It is a vast and imposing structure, surrounded by elaborate pleasure grounds. Inside, its chief show place is the Muschelsaal, or Shell Hail, reminding one of that hall of shells that was sung by Ossian. This is a huge ' apartment, whcst walls and ceiling are I covered with shells of all hues and shapes, fantastically arranged. Oyer the entrance to the garden house is nailed a horseshco, and beneath it is inscribed this English quatrain, composed by the Empress Frederick —

This plot of ground I call my own, Sweat with the breath of flowers, "With memories of pure delight, And toil of svmmer hours. In one of the apartments, which the Emperor Frederick used as his sitting room there is a peculiar decoration. Across the ceiling, and over part of the walls, extends a huge spider's web, painted in gold, in which are two flies and a big spider. The explanation is as follows :—Every morning Frederick the Great was accustomed to drink a ( cup of chocolate. One day he was engaged longer than usual at hie Avriting-table, the chocolate meanwhile remaining untouched. Later, when he wished to drink it, he found that a large spider had let itself down from the ceiling into the cup. 2*ot wishing to share his meal with the spider, the King poured the chocolate into the saucer for bis two greyhounds. These eagerly drank it, and were soon afterwards seized with convulsions and died, displaying all the symptoms ni poison. The French cook was thereupon ordered under arrest, but he had heard of the death of the greyhounds, and had cut his throat. It was discovered that the man had been bribed by an Austrian emissary to poison the Prussian King's chocolate. Frederick consequently looked upon the spider as having saved his life, »nd it was in memory of his narrow

escape that he had the room decorated as it still is.