Sights in Potsdam
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Sanssouci Park
Potsdam, on the Havel River just southwest of Greater Berlin, is the capital of Brandenburg state and the largest single tourist attraction in the region after Berlin itself. Visitors come here in their thousands to admire the stunning architecture of this former Prussian royal seat and to soak up the elegant air of history that still characterises its parks and gardens. Potsdam’s focal point is Sanssouci Park, a Unesco World Heritage site with criss-crossing trails strewn throughout; take along the free map provided by the tourist office or you’ll find yourself up the wrong path at almost every turn. The various palaces are spaced fairly far apart – it’s about 15km to…
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Park Charlottenhof
Laid out by Peter Lenné for Friedrich Wilhelm IV, Park Charlottenhof segues imperceptibly from Park Sanssouci but gets a lot fewer visitors. Buildings here reflect the king's passion for Italy. The small neoclassical Schloss Charlottenhof, for instance, was modelled after a Roman villa and features a Doric portico and bronze fountain. It was designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel who, aided by his student Ludwig Persius, also dreamed up the nearby Römische Bäder, a picturesque ensemble of an Italian country villa. A same-day combination ticket is €5 (concession €4).
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Holländisches Viertel
Bounded by Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse, Hebbelstrasse, Kurfürstenstrasse and Gutenbergstrasse, the Holländisches Viertel has some 134 gabled red-brick houses built for Dutch workers who came to Potsdam in the 1730s at the invitation of Friedrich Wilhelm I (they didn't stay long). The entire district has been beautifully gentrified and now brims with galleries, cafés and restaurants; Mittelstrasse is especially scenic.
Further up Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse is the fanciful Nauener Tor (Nauen Gate, 1755), a fairytale-like triumphal arch.
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Neuer Garten
The winding lakeside Neuer Garten, laid out in natural English style on the western shore of the Heiliger See, is another fine park in which to relax. Right on the lake, the neoclassical Marmorpalais built in 1792 by Carl Gotthard Langhans (he of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate fame) for Friedrich Wilhelm II, has recently been carefully restored.
In the northern park, Schloss Cecilienhof was completed in 1917 as the last Hohenzollern palace ever built.
A same-day combination ticket for Cecilienhof and the Marmorpalais is available.
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Marmorpalais
The neoclassical Marble Palace was built in 1792 as a summer residence for Friedrich Wilhelm II by Carl Gotthard Langhans (of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate fame) and has a stunning interior marked by a grand central staircase, marble fireplaces, stucco ceilings and lots of precious Wedgwood porcelain. The most fanciful room is the Turkish-tent-style Orientalisches Kabinett (Oriental Cabinet).
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Chinesisches Haus
The 18th-century fad for the Far East is admirably reflected in the magnificent Chinese House. The cloverleaf-shaped shutterbug favourite sports an enchanting exterior of exotically garbed and gilded figures sipping tea, dancing and playing musical instruments amid palm-shaped pillars. Inside is a precious collection of Chinese and Meissen porcelain.
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Schloss Sanssouci
The biggest stunner, and what everyone comes to see, is Schloss Sanssouci, the celebrated rococo palace designed by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff in 1747. The timed tickets sometimes sell out by noon - arrive early, preferably at opening, and avoid weekends and holidays. You can only enter the palace at the time printed on your ticket. Only city tours booked through the tourist office guarantee entry to the Schloss.
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Neues Palais
At the far western end of the park, the New Palace has made-to-impress dimensions, a central dome and a lavish exterior capped with a parade of sandstone figures. It was the final and largest palace commissioned by Frederick the Great, built in only six years, largely to demonstrate the undiminished power of the Prussian state following the bloody Seven Years War (1756–63). The king himself rarely camped out here, preferring the intimacy of Schloss Sanssouci, using it for representational purposes only. Only the last German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, used it as a residence, until 1918.
The interior attests to the high level of artistry and craftsmanship of the time. It's an…
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Damenflügel
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Luisenplatz
Luisenplatz is dominated by the baroque Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate). From this square, the pedestrianised Brandenburger Strasse runs due east to the Sts Peter und Paul Kirche (Church of Sts Peter and Paul, 1868). Just to the southeast on Charlottenstrasse, and once the seat of the town's Huguenots, is the Französische Kirche (French Church, 1753).
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Alexandrowka
One of Potsdam's most unusual neighbourhoods, Alexandrowka is a Russian colony that was a gift from Friedrich Wilhelm III to his close friend Tsar Alexander in 1820. The first residents were the singers of a Russian military choir who had much delighted the king. Descendants of the original settlers still live in the chalet-like wooden houses surrounded by gardens and orchards. Learn more at the pretty little museum with nearby garden cafe. Karl Friedrich Schinkel designed the Russian Orthodox church, called Alexander-Newski-Gedächtniskirche, just north of the colony.
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Filmmuseum Potsdam
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Belvedere Pfingstberg
For splendid views over Potsdam and surrounds, ascend the spiralling wrought-iron staircases of the twin-towered Belvedere palace commissioned by Friedrich Wilhelm IV and modelled on the VIlla Medici in Rome. The 1801 Pomonatempel just below it was Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s very first architectural commission.
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Historische Mühle
This is a functioning replica of the palace's original 18th-century Dutch-style windmill. Admission buys access to three floors of exhibits on mill technology, a close-up of the grinding mechanism and a top-floor viewing platform.
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Waschhaus
On the shores of the Tiefer See, about 2.5km north of central Potsdam, the complex unites numerous venues and institutions like the Waschhaus. Exhibits, movies, club nights and concerts take place here . Tram 93 makes the trip here from the Hauptbahnhof.
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Orangerieschloss
The dominant building in the corner of the park is the elegantly ageing Orangerieschloss. It's a 300m-long Renaissance-style palace built in 1864 by Italophile Friedrich Wilhelm IV as a guesthouse for visiting royalty.
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Nikolaikirche
Southeast of the GDR-era Platz der Einheit looms the great neoclassical dome of Schinkel’s Nikolaikirche, built in 1850, complemented by an obelisk and a small pavilion on the old market square. The tower can be climbed.
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Belvedere auf dem Klausberg
A tree-lined path forms a visual axis from the Orangery Palace to this temple-like building, from where you can enjoy a panorama taking in the park, lakes and Potsdam itself. The upstairs hall has an impressive frescoed dome, oak parquet and fanciful stucco marble. En route, you’ll pass the Drachenhaus (Dragon House; 1770), a fantastical Chinese palace inspired by the Ta-Ho pagoda in Canton and guarded by an entire army of dragons. It now houses a pleasant cafe-restaurant.
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Neue Kammern
The New Chambers were originally an orangery and later a guesthouse. The interior drips in opulence, most notably in the Ovidsaal, a grand ballroom with a gilded relief, and in the Jasper Hall, drenched in precious stones.
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Park Babelsberg
Park Babelsberg, yet another great Potsdam garden, is where you'll find the Schinkel-designed neo-Gothic Schloss Babelsberg and the Flatowturm, modelled after a medieval town gate in Frankfurt am Main.
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Römische Bäder
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Schloss Charlottenhof
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Schloss Cecilienhof
This rustic English-style country palace was completed in 1917 for crown prince Wilhelm and his wife Cecilie but is really more famous for hosting the 1945 Potsdam Conference where Stalin, Truman and Churchill hammered out Germany’s postwar fate. The conference room, with its giant round table, looks as though the delegates just left.
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Pesne-Galerie
On weekends, admission also includes a peak inside the Pesne-Galerie with a fine selection of works by this French painter.
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Bildergalerie
The Picture Gallery is the oldest royal museum in Germany and shelters a prized collection of Old Masters, including works by Peter Paul Rubens and Caravaggio's Doubting Thomas.
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