We had booked a half day trip to Potsdam from Berlin through the travel company Viator. Potsdam, the capital of the German state of Brandenburg, lies just 40 kilometers southwest of Berlin in a beautiful area of woodlands and lakes. This former residence of the Prussian rulers is a city of palaces and gardens.
We met our tour guide at the Berlin train station. The train took less than an hour to reach Potsdam.
Glienicke Bridge – We got off the train and walked across the The Glienicke Bridge which spans across the Havel River, connecting the Wannsee district of Berlin with the Brandenburg capital Potsdam. It is named after nearby Glienicke Palace. The current bridge, the fourth on the site, was completed in 1907, although major reconstruction was necessary after it was damaged during World War II. During the Cold War, the Havel River formed the border between West and East Berlin and the bridge was used several times for the exchange of captured spies and thus became known as the Bridge of Spies.
Sanssouci Palace – The palace was was built in 1745 based on sketches by Frederick the Great. The result, a splendid single-story Rococo building with an elliptical dome in the center and circular rooms at each end. The garden front has rich plaster decorations, while on the rear is the Grand Courtyard, enclosed by colonnades of Corinthian columns.
The Church of Peace, Sanssouci Park – At the east end of Sanssouci Park stands the Church of Peace, or Friedenskirche. Built in 1844, it was modeled on the Early Christian basilica of San Clemente in Rome. Its greatest treasure is its apse mosaic dating from 1108 from the church of San Cipriano, Murano, purchased and installed here in 1834.
Museum Schloss Cecilienhof, Neuer Garten – One of the more interesting of the many other buildings found in Neuer Garten is Cecilienhof Country House (Schloss Cecilienhof). Built between 1914-17 in the style of an English Tudor country house, Cecilienhof is most famous as the meeting place of the Potsdam Conference of July-August, 1945, between the US (Truman), the UK (Churchill), and the USSR (Stalin) at the end of WWII. Now set up as a museum, the building is wonderfully preserved in the state it was in during the conference, including the main conference room itself. Many original artifacts remain in place, along with displays detailing the event and its significance. Other highlights include the obelisk in the courtyard and the property’s lovely gardens.
Nauener Tor (Nauen Gate) – is one of the three preserved gates of Potsdam. It was built in 1755 and is the first example of the influence of English Gothic revival architecture in Europe.
The first Nauener Tor was built around 1720 about 400 m away from the current site. The second gate was built in 1733 at the current site. In 1755 the gate was rebuilt in its current form based on a sketch by Frederick II. Originally there was a city wall connecting the Nauen gate with the other two gates, the Jägertor and the Brandenburg Gate.
Today the three Potsdam gates are connected by a promenade, instead of a city wall. Nauener Tor is located in close proximity to the Dutch Quarter. Its users were the military and merchants, craftsmen and administrations. Today the square in front of the Nauener Tor has a high density of cafes, restaurants and bars is a popular meeting point of people in Potsdam and their guests.
Brandenburg Gate – This gate in Potsdam(not to be confused with the gate of same name in Berlin), was built in 1770–71 by order of Frederick II of Prussia, to celebrate his several victories in the Seven Years War. The two side entrances for pedestrians were not added until 1843, under Frederick William IV, in order to cope with the increase in pedestrian traffic. Since the city wall was demolished around 1900 the Brandenburg Gate has been a free-standing structure.
The Marble Palace (Marmorpalais) – Potsdam’s other large park, the New Garden (Neuer Garten) lies on the shores of the lake Heiliger See and covers an area of 253 acres. Splendidly landscaped in the sentimental style of the late 18th century and laid out in 1789, it was meant to reflect the style of a rural English country estate.
