report no.: 034
informant: Richie 1998 (75)
source: Germaine de Stael, Ueber Deutschland, trans. Robert Habs (Stuttgart, 1962), p. 127
Frederick Pottle (ed.), Boswell on the Grand Tour: Germany and Swityerland, 1764 (London, 1953), p. 110
location: Berlin
date: 1804

With the erection of dozens of magnificent buildings the city began to take on the appearance of an important capital and even James Boswell was moved to write in 1764 that Berlin was 'the most beautiful city I have seen'. Other visitors were less impressed. When Madame de Stael visited in 1804 she was surprised by the newness: 'one sees no traces of earlier times ... an entirely modern city, beautiful as it is, makes no impressions; it reveals no marks of the history of the country, or the character of its inhabitants.