The article contains information on Polish monuments in Berlin, including the Radziwiłł Palace, Raczyński's picture gallery and the so-called Krasicki Room at the Chateau Sans-Souci.

Source: Tygodnik Ilustrowany, 1860, vol. 2, no. 56, p. 525, [after:] University of Łódź Digital Library.

A modernised reading of the text

Polish monuments in Berlin
Berlin, the capital of Prussia, contains among its peculiarities few things of exclusive interest to Poles. Apart from the Radziwiłł dukes, who were connected to the royal house by familial ties, no other Polish noble families lived in Berlin that would leave any trace of themselves behind. Next to the palace of the Radziwiłł dukes and the former Polish embassy, which apart from its enormous size presents nothing of interest, the most important place is occupied by Count Raczyński's picture gallery. Although it cannot rival the royal museums in the Prussian capital in terms of the number of paintings, it excels in a happy and tasteful selection to such an extent that probably no visitor to Berlin who stays for a few days will fail to spend a few hours in this temple of art.

The building, the front of which is faithfully depicted, is located in the most beautiful part of the city, at the royal Tiergarten next to the Brandenburg Gate. It houses a large number of paintings on glass, which the Count acquired in Portugal, and a beautiful marble statue of Ganimed, one of Thorwaldsen's most outstanding works. In addition to a considerable number of watercolours, it contains a gallery of 140 oil paintings. The selection of these is remarkably fortunate. Here we find originals, whose copies in thousands of intaglios repeated, give the best testimony to how much these masterly things have won for themselves. Here we find: Canaletti's elevation of King Stanislaus Poniatowski; Hildebrandt's of Edward's sons; Kaulbach's of the battle of the Hunns and the Saga; van Dyck's apotheosis of Cardinal Richelieu; Cornelius' of Christ in Purgatory, and many other things, all of which are so delightful that it is difficult to part with them. Count Raczynski hesitated for a long time whether to place his beautiful collection in Poznan or Berlin. The final choice fell on Berlin.

One of the small Polish souvenirs can be found in Potsdam, the summer residence of the Prussian kings. It is the room of Prince Bishop Krasicki in Sanssouci. Potsdam, in the tenth century still a Wendish village (Potsdęb, under the oaks), owes its growth mainly to King Friedrich Wilhelm I, who, lured by the charming location of the then small town, built a castle in it and lived there in the summer. Subsequent kings built castle after castle, established gardens and parks, beautified the surroundings with artificial ruins and water features, and thus created a place which Voltaire, who stayed at the court of Friedrich II, not without some justification, called "le paradis du philosophe".

The Havel river and the lake, called the Holy Lake, are surrounded by hills, on the tops of which, among the woods, rise the costly villas of the king and the princes of the royal family. Of all these palaces, the most striking is Sanssouci, a castle built by Friedrich II after the completion of the First Silesian War, which still remains in almost the same condition as it was in the founder's lifetime. Some of the chambers are said to be intact to this day, including the so-called Krasicki Room. Only a few years ago, it was partially decorated with new furniture when the Queen added it to her private chambers. The yellow background of the walls and ceiling is lavishly decorated with flowers and very artfully carved wood parrots. The marble fireplace, the clock on it, a gift from the Marquise de Pompadour, and the desk at which Krasicki worked are reminiscent of a bygone age. At this desk he wrote his Monachomachia. The room depicted in the engraving has preserved from earlier times only the stucco on the walls, the famous desk and the clock; the rest of the furniture is apparently new.