Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1908-08-27

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A two hours walk from the capital
OF Corfu, in a southerly direction,
through a very dingy suburb called
San Rocco, and past the little village
of Gasturi, brings the dust-coyered
tourist within sight of one of the most
glorious architectural creations in ex-
istence. Thickly surrounded by clumps
of grayish-green olive-trees and YER
dant orchards, the Achilleion, the
fairy castle of that restless, unfor-
tuuate empress who was to die under
murderers steel, emerges like a
white phantom of the past. The beau
ty of its outward form-a clever imi-
tation of the Pompeian styles only
matched by its lavish and highly art1-
fetal innner decoration, on which
Empress Elizabeth is said to have
spent $1,250,000 and by the magniti-
cent views it commands. The Achil-
leion was recently inhabited by the
German emperor, his consort, daugh-
ter, and a full staff of courtiers; and
the Affiliations thereby created with
conceptions of Prussian soberness, cor
rectness, common sense, and other un-
romantic Granddaughter attributes,
greatly take away from that castles
bewitching poetry. A thousand pities!
The Achilleion, then, is the forty
ninth addition to the residences of the
German emperor In ordinary German
parlance, every one Of these 40 struc-
lures, or estates, is called Kaiser
liches Schloss," an imperial castle;
but the truth is that only few of
them (amongst them the well-known
and much-depicted residences in Ber-
lin and Potsdam) are real castles In an
architectural sense of the word, and
still fewer in a historic sense. For
merly built as strongholds, perched
upon peaks, or squatted in the middle
of marshes in order to make them i'm
prcgnable and to render all approach
difficult, the castles gradually gave
way to ambitious modern residences.
The historical situation in respect
to castles and royal manors is not
analogous in Germany to that in other
countries. The royal seats in Ger
many are not national. For this rea-
son, the restoration of timeworn
castles does not go on according to a
large, liberal insight as to what is of
the first importance; it goes on un-
Systematically, according to dynastic
feeling of what may conduce to the
dynastys distinction. A comparative
ly uninteresting castle, like the Hob
konigsburg-to quote one example out
of many-is therefore restored, as the
outcome of an imperial whim at an
enormous expense, while seats of over
whelming historic Importance, as for
instance KONG igs-Wusterhausen are al
lowed to rot. They are too "unpre-
tentious." One consequence of this
system, or rather lack of system, is
that many of these historically, or
otherwise, interesting places are al,
most unknown outside of Germany
Only the most conscientious or Eng
lish tourists will acquire a more than
superficial knowledge of those quiet
hooks, many of which were, in former
centuries, centers of political or cultur
al Importance.
The German emperor's residences
are lllOSllS pam COuIllly StdlS vi HltlG
shooting boxes, so that the startling
total, 40, loses much of its sensational
character when properly scrutinized
Among his various Berlin and Potsdam
palaces the Royal Castle on the Spree
is one of the largest city-residence
buildings, of a compact mass, in the
whole Of Germany
Quite remarkable for beautiful sur
roundings is Bruhl castle, near Cologne
which has not been inhabited for over
100 years. It is handsome building
erected in 1928, with a very fine
marble staircase and excellent frescC
paintings by Carlioni. Marshal Da
voust resided in it several years, anC
it was afterwards assigned to the
fourth cohort of the French Legion o
Hcncr Napoleon l. dwelt there for 6
day In September, 1904. For many
years it was abandoned to decay, ther
restored in 1912; but even after this
the beautiful palace looked barren ant
deserted. Like Bruhl, many roya
residences are being ignored and neg
lected by their owners.
One of the favorite resorts of En-
peror William and his family seems
to be his domain of Cadinen, neal
Elbing, situated in a most charming
forest landscape. 1t has become wide