THE MIRROR
OF
LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
| VOL. X, NO. 277.] | SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1827. | [PRICE 2d. |
THE PALACE AT STOCKHOLM.
The palace at Stockholm is the redeeming grace of that city.—Stockholm"not being able to boast any considerable place or square, nor indeedany street wider than an English lane; the exterior of the houses isdirty, the architecture shabby, and all strikes as very low andconfined. Yet the palace must be excepted; and that is commanding, andin a grand and simple taste." Such is the description of Stockholm bySir Robert Ker Porter; but, as he admits, he had just left the city ofSt. Petersburgh, and being probably dazzled with the freshness of itssplendour, Stockholm suffered in the contrast.
But Sir R.K. Porter is not entirely unsupported in his opinion. Mr.James, in his interesting "Journal of a Tour in Sweden, &c." publishedin 1816, describes the suburbs of Stockholm as "uniting every beauty ofwild nature, with the charms attendant upon the scenes of more activelife; but the examples of architecture within the town, if we except themansions of the royal family, are not of a style at all correspondingwith these delightful environs. The private houses make but little show;and the general air of the public buildings is not of the first style ofmagnitude, or in any way remarkable for good taste. One point, however,may be selected, that exhibits in a single prospect all that the capitalcan boast of this description. There is a long bridge of granite,connecting the city in the centre with the northern quarters of thetown: immediately at one extremity rises the royal palace, alarge square edifice, with extensive wings, and of the most simple andelegant contour; the other extremity is terminated by an equestrianstatue of Gustavus Adolphus, forming the chief object of a square, thatis bounded on the sides by handsome edifices of the Corinthian order;one the palace of the Princess Sophia, the other the ItalianOpera-house."
Mr. A. de Capell Brooke, who visited Stockholm in the summer of 1820,describes the palace as "a beautiful and conspicuous object, its wallswashed by the Baltic."—It is square, on an elevated[pg 242]ground, has a spacious court in the centre, and is in every respectworthy a royal residence. Near the entrance are two large bronze lions,which are admirably executed. "The view of the palace from the water,"says Sir R.K. Porter, "reminds us of Somerset House, though it farexceeds the British structure in size, magnificence, and soundarchitecture." It contains some good paintings, and a fine gallery ofstatues, chiefly antique, collected by the taste and munificence ofGustavus III. The Endymion is a chef d'œuvre of its kind,and the Raphael china is of infinite value, but a splendid example ofgenius and talent misapplied.
All travellers concur in their admiration of the site and environs ofStockholm, and in deprecating the malappropriation of the former, Portersays, "The situation of this capital deserves finer edifices. Like St.Petersburg, it is built o