Berlin
Berlin names 4 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Berlin ber'lin, the capital city of the kingdom of Prussia and of the German Empire
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
ber'lin, the capital city of the kingdom of Prussia and of the German Empire . As far as large neighbors are concerned, Berlin is 431 miles from Vienna, 731 from Paris, 722 from London, and 1,084 from St. Petersburg. Latitude 52 degree 30' N.; longitude 13 degree 23' E. It is situated in a sandy plain 120 feet above the level of the Baltic. The original city grew up on some islands in the river Spree, to which, no doubt, the early inhabitants resorted for protection,--the first requisite of a medieval city. The islands, connected by broad bridges, are still occupied by the older parts of the city. The more eastern district has the old churches, markets, and cathedral. The stock exchange , the town hall, and the great warehouses of the merchants are here. The central part of the largest island was once the site of a castle. It is now a pleasure garden for the public, adorned by monuments and statues, and surrounded partly by the old Royal Palace and the Old Museum. These two buildings, and others built by way of annexes, contain a series of the most interesting and valuable collections in Europe. It would be beyond the limits of this article to enumerate even the historic rooms of the palace or the art chambers of the different galleries and museums. Halls of former feasting and brilliant balls; closets where matters of state were weighed; tables on which treaties were signed; the room in which Frederick the Great was born; his saddle and sword; cradles that have rocked royalty; laces and bridal dresses once worn by queens and empresses; swords and weapons; armor yet showing the dint of the battle-ax; the knife and fork of Napoleon captured at Waterloo; precious gems and regalia, make the people of whom one reads seem real. Then too, in the museums, there are cabinets of old coins, portfolios of engravings, collections of flint, bronze and iron implements from the lake dwellings , crude pottery, priceless Berlin and Dresden ware, bronze casts, and terracottas. There are long galleries hung with oil paintings by the masters of every school, and halls of sculpture from the temples and palaces of Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and Rome,--altogether one of the great historical art collections of the world. One might wander amid these treasures for weeks or devote a lifetime to their study without wearying. Starting from the Garden and Royal Palace, crossing the Spree by a bridge as wide as itself, a magnificent avenue, called Unter den Linden (under the lindens), leads westward through the modern city to the Brandenburg Gate. The avenue is 196 feet wide; from the river to the gate it is a mile in length. It takes its name from avenues of linden trees with which it is planted. Passing from the river toward the gate one leaves the palace of the crown prince, the Royal Opera House, and the present residence of the emperor on the left hand. The buildings of the University of Berlin lie on the right. This is the greatest university in the world,--13,000 students. Near the east end of the avenue and in front of the emperor's residence,--in front also of the university entrance over the way,--stands a bronze statue of Frederick the Great. He is represented on horseback with his coronation robes and his walking stick. The various sections of the pedestal contain suggestive scenes and spirited groups of the men of his day, with figures of Moderation, Justice, Wisdom, and Strength. The statue was designed by sculptor Rauch, and was completed in 1851. It is forty-four feet high and is considered the finest equestrian statue in the world. After the close of the Franco-German war, Emperor William I was extraordinarily popular. In pleasant weather a crowd always used to gather along toward noon about the statue of Frederick in front of the palace. At half past twelve the regiment of which the emperor was theoretically a member came down Unter den Linden carrying their colors and preceded by the regiment band in full play. The grayheaded emperor, clad in his red military uniform appeared at the window of his office rooms, saluted the troops, and then went back to his work. The regiment passed on, the crowd dispersed. The Brandenburg Gate to which reference has been made is an edifice 85 feet high and 205 in length. It was built in 1793 in imitation of the entrance to the Acropolis of Athens. It has five different passages separated by massive Doric columns. The middle passage is reserved for the royal carriages. The material is sandstone. The gate is surmounted by a copper quadriga, a figure of Victory in a chariot driving four horses. It was taken to Paris by Napoleon in 1807, but was restored in 1814. Formerly the heads of the horses pointed toward the outer world, but on their return, they were set up with their heads toward the city. The Royal Library with the manuscript and first copies of Luther's Bible and a report of the Diet at Worms in the handwriting of Melanchthon; the arsenal with a complete collection of firearms, the oldest dating from the invention of gunpowder; the natural history museums of the university, including the collections brought home by Alexander Von Humboldt; the palaces occupied by Bismarck and Von Moltke; the industrial museum; and many other sights of the city have not been mentioned. A new stone parliament house has been erected. It is enriched by sculpture without and by interior fittings of oak, marble, steel, and bronze. Outside of the gate there is a large city park with beautiful drives, wooded avenues and ponds, and one of the most complete zoological gardens in Europe. The Avenue of Victory is lined with thirty-two historical groups of statuary. Five minutes from the gate by street car at the extreme end of the gardens lies the suburb of Charlottenburg, noted for a marble mausoleum of Queen Louise and her husband. The recumbent figures of the royal pair have been executed in carrara marble by Rauch. The queen in particular is a piece of unsurpassed workmanship. Every fold of her robe and feature of her face is as perfect as a lily. In point of population, Berlin is the third city in Europe. In 1900 the census gave 1,888,848 inhabitants and the number has no doubt passed the two million mark. The Spree seems but a series of canals, but its commerce is said to equal that of the Rhine. Berlin is also a railroad center with an immense business in grain, flour, shoes, drugs, metal work, locomotives, wool, cloth, crockery, leather, and cattle and dairy products. The affairs of the city are well managed. Miles of asphalt and cobble streets are kept cleanly swept. Street railways and gas and waterworks are owned by the city. Sewage is collected by an immense system of underground drains, and conducted to a plain below the city, where it is utilized to convert a large sandy tract into thirty square miles of fertile vegetable gardens. These gardens are managed by the municipality. Berlin is no longer a provincial capital. Though not so cosmopolitan as London and Paris, it is one of the world's great cities. The stir and bustle of government doings, the atmosphere of music and of art, and the great university draw travelers from all climes. German, of course, predominates, but English and French may be heard on every hand. See Germany
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the third largest city of Europe; capital of the former Kingdom of Prussia, and of the former Empire of Germany, now capital of the German republic, on both sides of the Spree river; 156 miles E. S. E. of Hamburg. Pop. about 2,000,000. It is built on a flat, sandy plain. Berlin occupies an area of over 25,000 acres, and now includes a number of former suburban towns and villages. The houses in the main are built of brick and plastered or stuccoed on the outside. The center of the city is now almost exclusively devoted to commerce, and the remarkable advance in the trade and political interests of the city since 1871 have attracted to it an enormous population. The principal streets are the famous Unter den Linden, with its four rows of lime trees and the stately Brandenburg Gate, the Wilhelmstrasse, the Königsstrasse, and the Leipzigerstrasse. Scattered about the city are a number of notable statues, including the remarkably imposing one of Frederick the Great, at the head of the Unter den Linden, and those of Schwerin, Winterfeld, Seidlitz, Keith, Zieten, Von Bülow, Leopold of Dessau, and the Great Elector. The Brandenburg Gate, which was begun in 1789, presents presents on each face six lofty Doric columns, and a Roman entablature, surmounted by an attic upon which is a bronze quadriga of "Victory." In the Belle Alliance Platz is a "Column of Peace," erected in 1840, to commemorate the peace of 1815. The triumphs of the German arms are further typified in the great "Monument of Victory," dedicated in 1875. Notable Buildings. In the center of the city is the old Royal Palace, containing nearly 700 apartments, including the richly adorned state rooms, the finest of which are the Weisser Saal, and the palace chapel. Near by are the palaces of the former Emperor and Crown Prince, the Royal Library, the old and new museums, the National Art Gallery, the arsenal, the Royal Theater, the opera house, the guard house, and the University of Berlin. These are all situated between the Spree and the E. end of Unter den Linden. Near the Königsplatz in the Thiergarten is the Reichstag, opened during the reign of Wilhelm II. On the Wilhelmstrasse is the former palace of the Imperial Chancellor, where the Congress of Berlin sat in 1878. The Old Museum contains antiquarian specimens, a remarkable collection of coins, a gallery of ancient sculpture, and a celebrated picture gallery; and the new museum has an invaluable collection of Egyptian antiquities brought together by Lepsius; six magnificent mural paintings by Kaulbach on the grand staircase; a collection of over 500,000 engravings; and twelve rooms filled with valuable casts. The Brandenburg Gate is a copy of the Prophylæa at Athens, is 65 feet high and 205 feet wide, and marks the line of the old wall of the city. Prior to the World War the city had a large traffic by the Spree, the canals, and the railways, the traffic by water being 50 per cent. greater than that of any other city or town in Germany. The Reichsbank is the chief bank in Germany for the issue of notes. The principal branches of industry were wool weaving, calico printing, the manufacture of engines and other machinery, iron, steel, and bronze ware, drapery goods, clothing, scientific instruments, chronometers, pianos, German silver ware, toys, chemicals, furniture, carnets, porcelain, linen goods, artificial flowers, and beer. History. As far back as the 13th century, the central part of the present city was inhabited. Kölln, on the island formed by the Spree on its left bank, was united to Old Berlin on the right bank in 1307. These names are still retained by the corresponding quarters of the modern city. Berlin was long little more than a fishing village; but when the Great Elector, Frederick William (1640-1688), had united the separate duchies of which Prussia is now formed, it became the capital. In the next century it received accessions of French and Bohemian colonists, driven into exile by religious persecution. Every inducement was then held out to bring foreigners to settle in the rising city. Under Frederick the Great it continued to prosper, and at his death had 145,000 inhabitants. The city was taken by the allies in 1760, and by Napoleon in 1806. After the peace of 1815 it became a focus of the arts and sciences, and a great center of commercial enterprise. The last quarter of the 19th century was a period of tremendous growth in wealth and population. The city suffered severely during the disturbances which followed the ending of the World War and the establishment of the German republic. See GERMANY.
Berlin UNIVERSITY OF, a celebrated institution of learning in Berlin
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
UNIVERSITY OF, a celebrated institution of learning in Berlin, Germany. It is, with the exception of Bonn, the youngest of the German universities. It was founded in 1810, when the Napoleonic victories had left Prussia apparently crushed and had even transferred her great University of Halle to the newly formed kingdom of Westphalia. The first rector of the university was Schmalz; the first deans of its faculties were Schleiermacher, Biener, Hufeland, and Fichte; and before it was 10 years old it had for professors such men as Niebuhr, Wolff, and Hegel. In more recent years, Ranke, Mommsen, Helmholtz, Virchow, and other famous scholars have added fame to the University. There are four faculties, theology, medicine, jurisprudence, and philosophy, with a total of 502 professors and teachers in 1914-1915. At the satisfactory completion of the course, the doctor's degree is conferred. The number of students in 1914-1915 was 8,035, besides a large number of nonmatriculated ones.
Berlin TREATY OF, a treaty signed July 13
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
TREATY OF, a treaty signed July 13, 1878, at the close of the Berlin Congress, which was constituted by the representatives of the six Great Powers and Turkey. The treaty of San Stefano, previously concluded between Turkey and Russia, was modified by the Berlin Treaty, which resulted in the division of Bulgaria into two parts, Bulgaria proper and Eastern Rumelia, the cession of parts of Armenia to Russia and Persia, the independence of Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro, the transference of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austrian administration, and the retrocession of Bessarabia to Russia. Greece was also to have an accession of territory. The British representatives were Lords Beaconsfield, Salisbury, and Odo Russell. By a separate arrangement previously made between Great Britain and Turkey, the former got Cyprus to administer.
Berlin a city of New Hampshire in Coos co
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city of New Hampshire in Coos co. It is on the Grand Trunk and the Boston and Maine railroads. The city has excellent water power which is employed in the manufacture of paper, pulp, and lumber. There is a public library, theaters, hospital, excellent schools and a fine municipal building. Pop. (1910) 11,780; (1920) 16,104.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Aiton's wrote this in 1910 the emperor still saluted his regiment from a window on Unter den Linden; Wilhelm II abdicated in November 1918, and the kingdom of Prussia itself was abolished after the Second World War. Bombing and the Battle of Berlin in 1945 wrecked much of the city described here: the Royal Palace, praised above for its historic rooms, was blown up by the East German authorities in 1950, and a reconstruction of its facades opened as the Humboldt Forum in 2020-21. From 1961 to 1989 the Brandenburg Gate stood in the death strip of the Berlin Wall, with the city split between a Soviet-controlled east and Western sectors; after reunification in 1990 Berlin became the German capital again, and the rebuilt Reichstag "parliament house" reopened with Norman Foster's glass dome in 1999. The art collections survived, dispersed and partly reunited, and Museum Island was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1999; the university, now Humboldt University, kept only its east-side campus, while the Free University was founded in the west in 1948.
Written for this edition, 2026.