Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 2, Number 26, DeMotte, Jasper County, 19 January 1933 — Re-Open Ex-Kaiser’s Famous Old Chapel [ARTICLE]

Re-Open Ex-Kaiser’s Famous Old Chapel

Last Divine Service Was Marriage of Princess.

Berlin.--The ex-kaiser’s former chapel atop the imperial castle in Berlin, after being closed.for almost 20 years, has been opened to the public. The last divine service held in the chapel was in May, 1913, on the occasion of the marriage of Princess Victoria Luise, the kaiser’s only daughter, to the duke of Brunswick, descendant of the dukes of Cumberland, archenemies of the Hohenzollern dynasty. The chapel is located beneath the fine cupola crowning the imperial castle on Unter den Linden, a familiar sight to every American tourist who visited the German capital. The chapel and cupola rest on the giant portal on the west side of the castle modeled after the famous Constantine arch in Rome. To give the massive portal the necessary foundation 3,000 bulky wooden piles were rammed into the swampy earth. The castle as well as the greater part of the German capital is built on marshy land formed by the rivers Spree and Havel. Sixty-Five Feet in Diameter. The octagonal chapel measures 65 feet in diameter, soaring 160 feet from the floor to the inner top of the cupola. The altar, a present of the Egyptian viceroy, Mehemet Ali, is made of a brownish yellow alabaster. The massive altar roof, resting on six pillars, is carved out of one piece. The altar crucifix is inlaid with numerous semiprecious stones. Ten costly candelabras are supported by antique Roman pillars excavated in Pompei. More than a hundred pictures, representing Biblical scenes and Prussian rulers, decorate the walls. The history of the chapel is comparatively new. While the oldest parts of the castle go back to the days of the renaissance, the chapel and cupola were added in the years 1845-1853 according to the designs of the Prussian King Frederick William IV and the famous German architect Schinkel. Within its walls many a church service was held in the presence of the royal family, surrounded by a glittering entourage. Whenever a new Prussian diet or reichstag was elected the new members assembled in the chapel in the presence of the kaiser to attend divine service. All the kaiser’s children were confirmed in the chapel. The confirmation of Prince Joachim of Prussia cost the job of Julius Pruewer, one of Germany's leading orchestra conductors. At that time he was organ player in the cathedral and in this capacity he conducted the choir singing at the ceremony. After the prince had been confirmed, the emperor and his family wanted to remain alone in the chapel to partake of the holy communion. The onlookers in the gallery did not budge, keeping their opera glasses glued on the imperial family. The emperor ordered Pruewer to have the choir sing a choral till the last onlookers had left the chapel. The choral was sung three times in succession; the audience did not stir. The conductor, instead of blindly obeying the orders of his imperial master, gave up the fight with his majesty’s subjects because of the sore throats of his singers. The onlookers were finally pushed out of the chapel by a host

of imperial flunkies. Pruewer was summarily dismissed. Last Event a Wedding. The last time the chapel showed unwonted splendor was for the wedding of the kaiser’s only daughter, Princess Victoria Luise, to the duke of Brunswick. The wedding put an end to a

feud of long standing between the houses of Hohenzollern and Cumberland. That was in May, 1913. Then came the World war and nobody set foot in the chapel except the charwomen and occasional flunky until in December. 1918, a number of grimy, hungry sailors, rifles slung over shoulders and red badges fixed to their arms, stealthily climbed through one of the windows of the chapel. They grabbed a valuable embroidered altar cover and disappeared by way of the castle roof. That was in the days of the German revolution when the walls of the imperial castle shook with the discharge of the guns and the crackle of machine guns and rifles continued all day long. The Red marine division had taken possession of the castle and imperial stables, which they made their headquarters. After the Red mutiny was quelled and peace was restored parts of the

imperial castle became a museum of tourists. Big, well lighted rooms were turned into regular offices, only from time to time the administrators of the former imperial castles would surprise the public by opening up old chapels or halls rich in beauty or in historical glamor for those who enjoy the romance of bygone days.