Potsdam
Updated: Oct 12
The city of new ideas, new cinemas and new world order - Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin 532
What and Why
When my wife was serving as a travel consultant, she did tell me that one of the places that she fancied most was Potsdam, and that was amongst many cities she had been to and would take me there. I had been rather skeptical about this until I saw it myself, not that I did not trust her words. I have to confess that she was true to her words that the city was just simply beautifully landscaped and marvellously built. Every few minutes walk we would pause a bit and take out our phone and take a photograph and utter, "Oh! That's beautiful!". That is Potsdam in a nutshell, but of course there is more to it.
Bordered with Southwest Berlin, on the banks and islands of the River Havel, Potsdam feels at first like a pleasant German city landscaped by water, parks and elegant buildings. As we walked along then you start walking: a palace appeared, then came a park, then came a windmill and then a Dutch-looking street. Just as we were appreciating and admiring all the natural and artificial beauties, deep inside me I was always prepared to explore why the city had become the setting for one of the most consequential political meetings in the 20th-century, the Potsdam Conference (German: Potsdamer Konferenz). So after the day-trip in Potsdam, I discovered that underneath the greenery is a remarkably dense potpourri of history of monarchy, war, diplomacy, arts, architecture and culture, all blended into the island. More specifically the city was identified as the military heart of the Prussia (Preußen), the Enlightenment sanctuary of Frederick II (Friedrich II, né Friedrich von Hohenzollern), the birthplace of early 20th-century cinema, and the stage for the world-defining geopolitical negotiations at the end of World War II.
Perhaps that is really Potsdam's magical appeal.
Toponymy
The name Potsdam comes from the Old Slavic word 'poztupimi' meaning 'beneath the oaks'. While the stem '-dam' does sound like the Dutch word for 'dam', linguists have noted this is merely a phonetic coincidence.
See
Sanssouci Palace and Park (Schloss und Park Sanssouci)
We have to be honest: Everyone comes to Potsdam for Sanssouci Palace and Park (Schloss und Park Sanssouci). Naturally this was our first station, which is literally the heart of Potsdam’s cultural identity.
The park is not exactly the largest, at least I had been to more massive ones, but from end to end it does command quite a walk. We were told there were more than 70 km of walkways!
I have to record that my first instinct in Potsdam was that somebody had gone slightly overboard with the palace budget. Ridiculous extravagance were the words in my mind when I saw Sanssouci and perhaps the joke is actually useful because Potsdam's architectures seem almost excessive. Moreover this was built during the time when Prussia was flaunting and preparing war against Archduchy of Austria (Latin: Archiducatus Austriae), eventually leading to the Seven Years' War. I was muttering almost non-stop as I wandered what was otherwise a remarkably relaxed and beautiful palace: "Where comes the money?"
Commissioned by King Frederick II in the mid-18th century about ten years before the war, Sanssouci, meaning 'without worries (French: sans souci)' was designed as an intimate summer retreat where the monarch could escape the rigid statecraft and military duties of Prussia. The name and the palace reflected Frederick II's ambition and aspiration: he wanted to retire from the stresses from his reign and military regimes and the place would serve as his retreat. Furthermore Frederick II was a famous musician and used to play music in front of his courtiers. He was equally deeply interested in art, philosophy and literatures; and his court culture was influenced by these cultural elements from all over Europe. This would be described slightly later when we entered the palace.
While history does adjudge Frederick II reasonably positively, in modern terms I feel almost the opposite: the country was at war, and ironically the king used all the money at his disposal to play music and built himself a lavish retreat palace, while the rest of the country was facing a national collapse? So back to my question about the money, his 'without worries' were literally built on the peoples' worries and sacrifices... I really do not buy this. T
Unlike most of the other continental palaces which are usually Baroque, Sanssouci is a single-storey, intimate summer pavilion in the French Rococo (Friderizianisches Rokoko) style.
The palace sits atop a famous six-tiered terraced vineyard. The southward slope with a grand staircase was sculptured into a number of broad curved terraces faced with gated niches housing figs and vines imported from across Europe. My family actually spent quite a long time in the terrace picknicking and wandering around the terraces.
We booked our ticket to enter inside the palace at late afternoon. A simple tip: It is advisable to book your ticket in advance. When reached the ticket booth at 10 am and we were left with only the last two time slots to enter the palace.
Opulence and extravagance are the two words that sprung to my mind when I saw its interior. It really contrasted with the restrained exterior facade when the interior shows the power and wealth of the monarch.
The marble hall (Marmorsaal)) of the palace interior particularly stood out for me: It was almost the striking antithesis of the relaxed name Sanssouci, as above. The other rooms all reveal Frederick II as a man of both culture and military expansion and ambition: surrounding himself with elaborate art pieces, interior designs and sculptures, while professing his reign and authority through various reliefs and paintings. By the way, my four-year old son really enjoyed the very detailed audioguide and was chasing station to station with lots of enthusiasm!
One particular spot of 'non-beauty' is the famous war graffiti scribbled on the wall of the Blue Gallery (Blaue Galerie). In May 1945, as the Soviet Red Army (Russian: Красная армия, Krasnaya armiya) advanced through Nazi Germany (Deutsches Reich) to bring a decisive end to World War II, Soviet soldiers scratched Cyrillic inscriptions directly into the surface. Amidst the ornate architecture, two graffiti visibly stand out: '1945' and the poignant statement 'Победа - хорошое слово (Victory is a fine word, Pobeda - khoroshoye slovo)', pictured as below, and attentively looked at by my daughter, who just happened to be picking up number reading during the time.
At the time, the chamber was not just an empty palace; it was being used as a temporary storage facility harbouring roughly 2,400 delicate porcelain objects from Charlottenburg Palace (Schloss Charlottenburg) alongside many priceless paintings. By September 1945, these treasures were cleared out and transferred to the Soviet Union (Союз Советских, Soyuz Sovetskikh) as spoils of war.
According to the audioguide, the scratch markings at Sanssouci offer a deeply evocative counterpoint. Rather than aggressive triumphalism, the graffiti in the Blue Gallery captures a human sigh of relief from soldiers who had survived the most brutal conflict in human history. During extensive restorations of the palace during the 1980s, historians purposefully chose to preserve these markings, leaving them intact as part of the palace's history.
Deep underneath, Sanssouci was built as Frederick II's personal cultural sanctuary. Frederick II transformed his court and palace into a centre of Enlightenment thought, hosting philosophers, scientists, and musicians, again in the backdrop of a war.
Next to the palace is the orangery (Orangerie), which is a small but gorgeous building in the Italian Renaissance style. It was constructed to house delicate exotic plants during the winter and features a central gallery housing over 50 full-scale copies of paintings by Raphael (Italian: Raffaelo, né Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino).
Slightly west of the orangery stands the historic windmill of Sanssouci (historische Mühle von Sanssouci), where we actually entered into the entire Sanssouci complex. The mill actually precedes the entire palace and had been sitting on top of the hill since the early 18th century, and apparently legends say that Frederick II just enjoyed the accompaniment of the hill to the palace.
As one could imagine, and very very usual in Europe, these wooden structures are always prone to fire and this mill had been burnt down a number of times, and destroyed during World War II. The current one sitting up there is a 1990s reconstruction based on the original plan.
The mill is still an actual working mill and it does mill flours to make bread, certainly as a tourist item only. We bought a pricey loaf of bread from the mill and honestly it tastes really stale and hard, but that was our lunch in Potsdam.
The mill provides a good exhibition of milling technology and a good view of the entire park.
Near the southern exit of the park, Frederick II built the Chinese House (Chinesisches Haus) during the mid-18th century to follow the 18th-century European chinoiserie fashion and create an intimate garden retreat. During the time, there was a a widespread European fascination with East Asian art and architecture, which started in France and spread to continental Europe. Frederick II used the gold-plated building as an intimate setting for small social gatherings, music, and tea drinking, viewing it as an escapade into an exotic fantasy world rather than any accurate representation of real Chinese culture. In fact most of the golden statues outside the building are nothing Chinese and might be misinterpreted as racist nowadays in view of their ugly facial and clothing depictions!
Charlottenhof
At the southern exit of the park lies two aesthetically pleasing properties that were built for King Frederick William IV (Friedrich Wilhelm IV, né Friedrich Wilhelm von Hohenzollern). The Charlottenhof, which technically is a separate park and palace complex, is now integrated into Sanssouci, as in the official guide map above. The park is named after Maria Charlotte von Gentzkow, who had owned the property during the late 18th century.
Near it are the Roman Baths (Römischen Bäder), built for the King as he had an obsession and craving of all things Italian (Italiensehnsucht). As you can see we ran out of time and energy and hence we decided only to take quick picture.
New Palace (Neues Palais)
As we walked towards the southern exit of the complex, there came another answer to my original question about money, when I saw, albeit in scaffolding the New Palace (Neues Palais). This is where all the money went.
If Sanssouci is intimate, the New Palace is emphatically not. Commissioned by Frederick II again, the palace was after the Seven Years' War to accentuate Frederick's self-esteem and express an aggressive statement of imperial prestige, military resilience, and political legitimacy. If Sanssouci is for relaxation, then the New Palace is designed to remind the empire that Frederick II was the king.
Financially it was a final nail to the Prussian treasury. Prussia had emerged exhausted and financially strained, albeit victorious against a coalition of major European powers (Austria, France, Russian Empire (Российская империя, Rossiyskaya imperiya)). Frederick II wanted to referred to the New Palace as a fanfaronnade to theatrically publicise to Europe that Prussia capacities remained undiminished despite the destructive war. Frederick himself was hardly using the palace and had remained a monument ever since .
Unfortunately as pictured above, the palace was closed for renovation during our visit.
Cecilienhof
Honestly my knowledge of Potsdam had nothing to do with beautiful palaces until my wife enticed me about the city. My knowledge was largely hinged to the monumental Potsdam Conference that was held in Cecilienhof in July 1945 after the European theatre had fallen curtain. President Harry Truman of America, Premier Joseph Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Сталин, Iosif Stalin, né Ioseb Jughashvili (Russian: Ио́сиф Джугашви́ли)) of Soviet Union and Primer Minister Winston Churchill (he was replaced midway by Clement Attlee) of the United Kingdom gathered together as victorious Allies to establish the post-World War II order for Europe. The result was the divided administration of Germany and Berlin, as blogged in Berlin | East Berlin. Unknown to most people, the conference also legitimised Poland (Polish: Polska) as a country and divided Vietnam (Vietnamese: Việt Nam) into North and South. More importantly for us Asian, it issued the Potsdam Declaration, demanding the unconditional surrender of Japan (Japanese: 日本, Nippon).
I did not know how and why the site was chosen, but to be honest I would have thought, to host such a historic meeting, Cecilienhof must have been extremely palatial. Instead it is almost like a modest English Tudor manor house. The house facade disguises its real size, it is really large once one enters. I have to say that it did look like we return home!
Right at the entrance sees one of the most memorable details at Cecilienhof: the unmistakably large Soviet red star laid out in the courtyard. It is one of those details that makes history feel strangely tangible and cold.
The mansion was commissioned by Emperor Wilhelm II (né Wilhelm von Hohenzollern) for his eldest son and his wife, Crown Princess Cecilie (née Cecilie zu Mecklenburg-Schwerin), during World War I, coincidentally making it the last palace ever built by the House of Hohenzollern.
Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor)
After a whole day tour in Sanssouci, we took a bus back into the city and reached the main landmark of Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor). Although much smaller and less celebrated to its more famous namesake in Berlin, the gate of Potsdam actually predates the Berlin version by more than 21 years! The gate was commissioned by Frederick II (who else) to commemorate and celebrate victory in the Seven Years' War.
Old Market (Alter Markt)
The historic central square of Potsdam, the Old Market (Alter Markt) was originally designed as a grand Roman-inspired forum: complete with marble buildings and cobblestone pavements, as shown below.
When we reached there it was a bit late and the market was quite quiet, although we could not have mistaken the prominent Saint Nicolas Church (Sankt Nikolaikirche). Dominating the Potsdam urban skyline, this neoclassical marble-colour church features a monumental 77-m-high tambour dome. Standing next to it is the Potsdam Museum (on the right of the above photograph) and the majestic City Palace (Stadtschloss), a red-hued Baroque mansion once housing the king of Prussia. As you can see we ran out of time and did not spend too much time visiting them in details.
Dutch Quarter (Holländisches Viertel)
We went for our evening dinner at the city centre and we located a restaurant within the very picturesque Dutch Quarter (Holländisches Viertel). Located in the northern part of Potsdam's historic downtown, the precinct represents one of the most distinctive urban ensembles in Germany. Constructed during the mid-18th century during the reign of Frederick William I (Friedrich Wilhelm I, né Friedrich Wilhelm von Hohenzollern), the quarter was planned to accommodate Dutch artisans, carpenters, bricklayers, and hydraulic engineers. These skilled workers were brought to Potsdam to drain the marshy lands surrounding the city and undertake various major construction projects. To make the foreign workers feel at home, Frederick William I ordered the creation of an authentic Dutch neighbourhood. It stands as the largest genuine, not theme park, Dutch neighbourhood outside the Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland).
The quarter consists of 134 two-storey red-brick houses across four rectangular blocks (Gevierte) with distinctive red-brick facades and gables. Apart from restaurant, the area serves as the main concentration of small boutiques, galleries and art ateliers. To be frank, I find this the city's most beautiful area.
Babelsberg
We finished the day with Babelsberg, the district adjacent to main central station. The experience of the visit contrasts almost everything that we have visited in Potsdam.
Babelsberg is famous for two things: the park and palace and the studio. The park is where we spent most of our time to consume our children's energy. The picturesque park opens towards the Havel with views across the river.
Perched on a hillside overlooking the the Havel is beige Babelsberg Palace (Schloss Babelsberg) which was built in early 19th century as a summer residence for Prince William (Wilhelm, né Wilhelm von Hohenzollern) of Prussia, later Emperor William I. The palace within the park is not open to the public but one can walk around the park and see the exterior of the palace, as above.
Just when I thought I had more or less worked out what Babelsberg was about, cinema appeared, which became the highlight of the area and adds a totally different dimension to my Potsdam experience. Up to this point I had been thinking only about palaces and gardens and a bit of war; and suddenly comes the modern creative industries.
The area and its Studio Babelsberg in the east is actually the birthplace of modern cinema. Founded in 1912 the studio is the world's oldest large-scale film studio. As a result Potsdam was designated a UNESCO Creative City of Film in 2019 due to the studio's century-long contributions to world cinema.
During the 1920s under the name Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft, now UFA, Babelsberg was the capital of German expressionist cinema. During the Nazi regime, the studios were nationalised for state propaganda films. The famous but controversial, but equally innovative German filmmaker, Leni Riefenstahl used the studio to film parts of her controversial feature film Lowland (Tiefland), and pulled many prisoners from detention camp near Berlin as extras. Many of these prisoners were later deported to concentration camps like Auschwitz (Oświęcim).
Studio Babelsberg remains in work and is still a major international hub for filmmaking, hosting international famous productions such as Inglourious Basterds, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and more recently The Matrix Resurrections.
If one has time, there is a theme park called Filmpark Babelsberg next to the studio. We were told that it was worth the visit. We ignored the advice simply we did not want to spend money.
Experience, Buy and Do
Fruit wine (Obstwein)
Fruit wine (Obstwein) is big in Potsdam as the Havel and the nearby town Werder is a major fruit-growing region. As a matter of fact, the Werder Tree Blossom Festival (Baumblütenfest), held every spring, is the country's second-largest festival after Oktoberfest, drawing around more than half a million visitors.
Travel Suggestions and Logistics
Potsdam is easily accessible from Berlin, which is slightly less than an hour train. The central station (Hauptbahnhof) has all train and tram direct connexions to all the landmarks of the city. Very convenient.
While Potsdam is not really big, Sanssouci alone can expend and exhaust all your energy in one day. I suggest at least two to three days for the visit with one full day just reserved for Sanssouci.
One good advice when travelling from Berlin: buy the train ticket that includes Potsdam, called the ABC ticket. This will include all your transport travel to and within Potsdam and is really a saver.
The Sanssouci ticket includes entry to all the landmarks listed above.
UNESCO Inscription
With 500 ha of parks and 150 buildings constructed between 1730 and 1916, Potsdam's complex of palaces and parks forms an artistic whole, whose eclectic nature reinforces its sense of uniqueness. It extends into the district of Berlin-Zehlendorf, with the palaces and parks lining the banks of the River Havel and Lake Glienicke. Voltaire stayed at the Sans-Souci Palace, built under Frederick II between 1745 and 1747.
References
Comments
Please share your thoughts and comments about the blog. If you need suggestions to build a travel itinerary, please let me know. More than willing to help. I would also like to build a bespoke-in-depth travel community around UNESCO WHS and ICH.
Comments