List of tourist attractions in Potsdam


The following is a list of sights of Potsdam, the capital of the German state of Brandenburg in Germany.

Sanssouci Park

The historic park of Sanssouci covers an area of about 290 hectares and is thus the largest and best known in the March of Brandenburg. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Frederick the Great and Frederick William IV influenced the park in the contemporary architectural styles of Rococo and Classicism and had an artistic synthesis of architecture and gardens constructed, whose centrepiece is the vineyard terraces and the palace of Sanssouci that crowns them.

File:Potsdam Luftbild Neues Palais Schlösser westlich im Park Sanssouci Foto Wolfgang Pehlemann Wiesbaden IMG 0059.jpg|New Palace
File:Potsdam Teehouse.jpg|Chinese House
File:Potsdam Drachenhaus.jpg|Dragon House
File:Römische Bäder Potsdam.jpg|Roman Baths

New Garden

The New Garden is a park, roughly 100 ha in area, that lies in the north of Potsdam and borders on the lakes of Heiliger See and the Jungfernsee. In 1787 Frederick William II had a new garden laid out on this site, hence the name. The park was intended to reflect the prevailing fashion for the English garden, in contrast to the outmoded style of the Baroque ornamental and vegetable garden at Sanssouci.

File:Schloss Cecilienhof Panorama.jpg|Cecilienhof Palace
File:Marmorpalais.jpg|Marble Palace
File:Heiliger See.jpg|Heiliger See
File:Gotische_Bibliothek.JPG|Gothic Library

Babelsberg Park

Bordering the Tiefer See on the River Havel lies Babelsberg Park, covering an area of 114 hectares. In 1833, on the order of Prince William, later Emperor William I and his wife, Augusta the landscape gardener, Peter Joseph Lenné, and Prince Hermann of Pückler-Muskau began turning the rolling terrain that sloped down towards the lake into a park.

Other parks and gardens

  • Island of Friendship in the centre of the city with the Karl Foerster perennial garden.
  • Karl Foerster Garden in Potsdam-Bornim with its private residence.
  • Pleasure Garden, the oldest garden in Potsdam, originally part of the City Palace site
  • Potsdam Municipal Park on the old 2001 Federal Garden Show site with the Potsdam Biosphere, a commercially run park.
  • Potsdam Wildlife Park, one of the oldest examples of the linkage of courtly tradition and landscape gardening. The wildlife park has an area of over 875 hectares and is located west of Sanssouci Park.
  • Bornstedt Cemetery, more-than-400-year-old park with Italian-like church. Amongst those buried here are Ferdinand von Arnim, Peter Joseph Lenné and Ludwig Persius.

Churches

The Prussian tolerance, which is highly visible in the city, is also expressed by Potsdam's churches: In the centre of Protestant Potsdam, stands a large Roman Catholic church, and the oldest Russian Orthodox Church in Germany is found here. Churches were built for settlers from various corners of Europe: the Swiss, French, Bohemians...
  • St. Nicholas' Church,. A giant domed building based on cathedrals in Rome, London and Paris, on the Old Market Square, consecrated in 1837, architects: Schinkel, Persius and Stüler.
  • Garrison Church, reconstruction began in 2017
  • French Church,. Based on the Roman Pantheon and built for French settlers, consecrated in 1753, builders: restored by Knobelsdorff, Boumann, in the past years.
  • Roman Catholic Priory Church of St. Peter and Paul,. Like a campanile writ large, the church stands at the end of the Potsdam Bummelboulevard, consecrated in 1870, builders: Stüler, Salzenberg.
  • Church of Peace in Sanssouci Park, . This church was established at the entrance to Sanssouci Park like a medieval Italian monastery, consecrated in 1848, builders: Persius, von Arnim, Hesse, Stüler.
  • Church of the Redeemer, well outside the town centre, on the banks of the Havel, in the style of an Italian basilica, stood for years in the shadow of the wall in no-man's land, consecrated in 1844, architect: Persius.
  • Alexander Nevsky Memorial Church built for the Russian residents of the settlement of Alexandrowka below the Kapellenberg, used without interruption, consecrated 1829, oldest Russian Orthodox church in Germany, architects: Vasily Stasov, Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
  • Church of Our Saviour. Evangelical church in Potsdam-West, consecrated in 1898, builder: Möckel
  • Church of Christ, wedged between residential buildings continues to be the one-time Old Lutheran church, consecrated in 1903. Today the church is used independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Christ parish. Builder: Grabowsky.
  • Pentecostal Church,. This church stands between and the New Garden in an idyllic garden setting, consecrated in 1894, architect: Tiedemann.
  • Hermannswerder Island Church, a Neogothic building that belongs to the Hoffbauer Foundation, consecrated in 1911, builder: Gebrüder Bolle.
  • Frederick Church on the Weberplatz,. Centrepiece of a settlement for Bohemian weavers in Babelsberg, consecrated in 1753, builder: Boumann.
  • Oberlin Church, Babelsberg,. focal point of the Oberlinhaus, inter alia a lyceum for deaf-blind people, consecrated in 1905, builder: Tiedemann.
  • Old Neuendorf Church in Babelsberg, built 1850–52, rebuilding started in 1998
  • Parish Church of St. Anthony, Roman Catholic church for Babelsberg, consecrated in 1934, architect: Fahlbusch.
  • Chapel of Klein-Glienicke, near the city's boundary with Berlin, which meant that the church fell into ruin as a result of its proximity to the Berlin Wall, consecrated in 1881, architect: Reinhold Persius.
  • Bornstedt Church, Italianate church that watches over the graves of famous Potsdam townsfolk, consecrated in 1856, builder: Stüler.
  • other village churches in the incorporated villages:
  • * Bornim. Architect: Tiedemann
  • * Eiche
  • * Grube
  • * Nattwerder
  • * Drewitz
  • and the churches in the new districts:
  • * Stern Church
  • * Church of Atonement, Kirchsteigfeld

Image:Potsdam St. Nikolaikirche 2005.jpg|St. Nicholas' Church
File:Garnisonkirche Potsdam, Luftaufnahme-0745.jpg|Garrison Church
File:French Church Potsdam.jpg|French Church
File:Friedenskirche.jpg|Church of Peace
File:Potsdam Alexandrowka 02-14 img5.jpg|Russian Orthodox church
File:Neuendorfer Kirche.jpg|Neuendorf Church
File:Potsdam Christuskirche asv2023-07.jpg|Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Christ
File:Church of St Peter and Paul, Potsdam.jpg|Church of St. Peter and Paul

City gates

As a garrison city Potsdam had a city wall with several gates. With their flamboyant architectural styles they were more built for show that for defence. Of the city gates only three have survived.

City quarters and ensembles

City quarters

  • Dutch Quarter
  • Russian Colony of Alexandrowka with its Alexander Nevsky Memorial Church
  • Potsdam-Babelsberg and the villa colony of Neubabelsberg as well as the Bohemian Weavers' Quarter Brandenburger Straße is the shopping street of Potsdam in the city centre, and is a pedestrian zone, bordered by St. Peter and St. Paul's Church and the Brandenburger Tor.)
  • Berliner Vorstadt
  • Potsdam West

File:HollViertel.jpg|Dutch Quarter
File:Potsdam Alexandrowka 02-14 img2.jpg|Russian Colony of Alexandrowka
Image:Berliner Sternwarte Babelsberg.jpg|Sternwarte Babelsberg
File:Potsdam Brandenburger Str.jpg|Brandenburger Straße

Open spaces and squares

  • Alter Markt, historic centre of the city.
  • * Potsdam City Palace,
  • * Fortuna Portal, rebuilt 2001/02.
  • * Old City Hall, built in the baroque style in 1753 to a design by Andrea Palladio for the Palazzo Angarano in Vicenza that was never executed.Neuer Markt, almost entirely preserved baroque square.Luisenplatz,, baroque square between Brandenburger Straße and the entrance to Sanssouci Park.Bassinplatz with St. Peter and St. Paul's and the French Church.Platz der Einheit, central square with modern and historic architecture.
  • Glienicke Bridge,, well known for the exchange of agents during the Cold War.
  • Potsdam Airship Station
  • Babelsberg Film Studio and Babelsberg Film Park
  • The new cultural quarter of Schiffbauergasse with the Hans Otto Theatre and the Schinkelhalle.

Buildings

Museums and exhibitions

Villas

Since the 1990s many architecturally interesting villas have been restored:
  • Neubabelsberg villa colony
  • Villa Ingenheim
  • Villa Liegnitz
  • Villa von Diringshofen
  • Villa Kampffmeyer by the Glienicke Bridge
  • Villa Schöningen by the Glienicke Bridge
  • Villa Heydert
  • Villa Rohn also called the Löwenwilla, named after the lions in front of the facade. Owned since 1941 by the Fritz von der Lancken family, a resistance fighter against the Third Reich.
  • Herbertshof, named after Herbert Gutmann, with its Arabic Room
  • Palace of Countess Lichtenau, on the Heiliger See
  • Villa Bach, Spitzweggasse
  • Villa Ernst von Bergmann, Berliner Straße
  • Villa Gericke, Puschkinallee
  • Villa Gutmann
  • Villa Kellermann
  • Villa Kutscherhaus, Persiusstr.
  • Villa General Ladental
  • Villa Mendelson, named after the Jewish merchant
  • Villa Mosler
  • Villa Fritz Rumpf
  • Villa Sarna with its lion frieze
  • Villa Spillner, Böcklinstraße/Tizianstraße
  • Villa Starke
  • Villa Stülpnagel, Hegelallee 5, with impressive frame and panel door ; large historic map of Berlin in Russian script in the fireplace room.
  • Villa Wiener, Konrad Adenauer lived here in 1934
  • Villa Lademann, Heinz Rühmann lived here during filming, the house was built by the brother of Otto Lilienthal, Gustav Lilienthal
  • Villa Alfred Zeisler, by Marika Röckk

Lakes

Literature

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