When one has pass'd the Bridge, the King's Palace offers itself to view; a great and stately Fabric, which Frederic I. began in the Year 1699, and a worthy Monument of that Prince's Magnificence, who was of Opinion, that of all the Sums expended by Sovereigns, those which they lay out in Buildings are least liable to Censure. And indeed Magnificence is well bestowed, and even Profusion seems justifiable in Architecture, because grand Edifices are the principal Ornament of any State.
The Palace has been the Workmanship of several Architects; the Name of the first was Schluter, but he not giving Satisfaction was dismiss'd, and went into the Service of the Czar Peter Alexiowitz. Whatever he did is extremely incumber'd with Ornaments which have not a due Proportion. His Successor was Eosander, a Swede, who is a Lieutenant-General in the Service of the King of Poland: He was oblig'd in some measure to pursue what Schluter had begun; so that if he has not come off well every where, he has at least that for his Excuse. The third was Bot, a Frenchman, and now General Officer in Poland; who without dispute was a much better Artist than the others. Every thing that he has done is more simple, yet more grand, noble, and complete.
These three Architects having gone upon different Plans, you will easily imagine that the Fronts are not perfectly regular; yet for all this, had the Palace been finish'd according to the Models approv'd of by the late King, it wou'd have been inferior to no Edifice for Grandeur and Magnificence, except the Louvre of Paris. King Frederic-William does not think fit to carry on this Building, but leaves that Honour to his Son, the Prince Royal.
As to giving you all the Particulars of this vast Palace, you will be so good as to excuse me: Be
satisfied if I only tell you, that it consists of four Stories: The Apartments are large, have fine Cielings, and are royally furnish'd. In no part of the World did I ever see such a prodigious quantity of Plate, Tables, Stands, Lustres, Chandeliers, Screens, Looking-Glass Frames, Couches, Arm-Chairs, all of Silver. The late King left Plate to the value of two Millions eight hundred thousand Crowns, not reckoning the Fashion. In that call'd the Knights Hall, there's a Beaufet which takes up one intire side of the Room, where there are Cisterns and Basons Silver gilt, of an extraordinary Size.
The Furniture of the grand Apartment is very rich; there's a fine Gallery adorn'd with Pictures, the Cieling of which was painted by one Peine, a Frenchman, who in divers Compartments has skilfully represented the principal Actions of King Frederic I. At the End of this Gallery there's a Saloon, which was formerly magnificent to the last degree, being wainscotted, if I may so call it, with Amber: But the late Czar coming on Berlin in his return from Holland and France, and not a little admiring this Furniture, which was the only thing of its kind, the King made him a Present of it: so that what had been amass'd with great Care and Cost by several Electors, fell in one Day into the hands of a Nation, which, no longer ago than the beginning of the present Century, was reckon'd Barbarian.
The Palace had fine Gardens belonging to it before they were destroy'd, and converted into a Place of Arms, and a Parade for the Guards.
Hard by the Palace are the King's Stables, a very grand Building, facing the great Street. The Architecture without is Gothic, but the inside is more magnificent; the Stables are broad and spacious,
very lofty, and very lightsome: the Mangers are of Stone, and the Pillars which mark the Stands for the Horses, are of Iron, and adorn'd with the King's Cypher, gilt: Over the Mangers are several great Pictures of the finest Horses that ever came out of his Majesty's Studs. The Backside of the Stables projects towards the River Spree, to which they can lead the Horses by a Stair-Case without Steps, built in the form of a Horse-Shoe.