Potsdam City of palaces and gardens by the water

The splendour of monuments built during the reign of King Frederick the Great can also be found in the historic centre of the city, featuring baroque houses, city gates and Italian-style villas. Potsdam's City Palace (Stadtschloss) at Alter Markt on the banks of the Havel River has been rebuilt and serves as the seat for Brandenburg’s state parliament since late 2013.

Among the other striking monuments defining Potsdam’s historic architecture are the Church of St. Nicholas (Nikolaikirche). The former affords a fantastic panoramic view of the city. Located also at Alter Markt is the Potsdam Museum, with its golden atlas sculpture.

Having restored the destroyed Museum Barberini, which King Frederick the Great had once built as a city palace following the Roman example, the reconstruction of the historic Alter Markt has been completed. In a short space of time, the Museum Barberini has emerged as crowd puller in Potsdam’s city centre.

Situated at the Neuer Markt, one of Europe’s most beautiful baroque squares, is the “Haus der Brandenburgisch-Preußischen Geschichte” inside the “Kutschstall” or former royal stables. Nearby are the Filmmuseum. The permanent exhibition: “Dream Factory - 100 Years of Film in Babelsberg” tells the story of the legendary Babelsberg film studios - from the beginnings of film production to current productions such as Inglourious Basterds (2009).

In the past 300 years, Potsdam has transformed from a garrison town to one of the most prestigious residential cities in Europe. Just like his predecessors and successors, the Prussian King Frederick the Great commissioned numerous baroque monuments as well as 17 palaces and sites with opulently landscaped parks, among them Sanssouci Palace and Park with the New Palace (Neues Palais). Famous master builders like Knobelsdorff and Schinkel and renowned royal landscapers like Fürst von Pückler-Muskau, designed, as commissioned by the king, an impressive cultural landscape. Surrounded by the lakes of the Havel River, the historic treasures of the city can ideally be explored directly from the water on a round tour by boat. Boat captains find an incredibly vast water territory to explore on Potsdam's Havel lakes.