Potsdam is located 30 kilometers southwest of Berlin. It was first mentioned in 933 as a Slavic settlement. The city becomes German in the middle of the XII century, and in the XIII century. Potsdam receives city rights. In the XVIII-XIX centuries. Potsdam was the summer residence of the Prussian kings, the venue for military parades and parades. Today the city is the capital of the federal state of Brandenburg.
Potsdam is known for a number of palaces and palace and park ensembles. In total, there are 40 palaces, which were built under each Prussian king in the period from the 17th to the beginning of the 20th centuries. The most famous of them is, of course, the Sanssouci Palace., the summer residence of Frederick the Great and a national German shrine. It was erected in 1744-47. and since that time it has been preserved unchanged, not having suffered even during the Second World War. Sanssouci was supposed to give rest to Frederick the Great, who was tired of wars, which is reflected in its name (sanssouci translates as “without worries”). An elegant building built in the Rococo style. On its large dome there are sculptures that embodied the four elements – Fire, Water, Earth and Air. The one-story palace with twelve high glazed doors is located above six terraces of a stepped green parterre with vineyards. In 1748, by order of the king, a reservoir with water for fountains was built in the courtyard, but in the 18th century. the fountains did not work, as it was not possible to raise water with pumps to the mountain where the palace was located. The fountains at Sanssouci only started working in 1841 after the discovery of the power of steam. In the palace, the living quarters of the king have been preserved intact. A special luxury strikes an obligatory part of all the palaces of Emperor Frederick – the library. It is lined with panels of cedar and other expensive woods and decorated with gilded bronze. The concert room in Sanssouci is considered one of the most beautiful rooms of the German Rococo era. Painting, sculpture, applied arts presented here harmoniously form a single whole.
According to THEMOTORCYCLERS, Sanssouci is surrounded by a beautiful park, which houses more than a dozen other palaces and garden pavilions from different eras. The park is planned in such a way that all the palaces and buildings are not immediately visible, they appear before the eyes gradually. The new palace was built in 1763-69. by order of Frederick the Great, to demonstrate the power of Prussia. The palace consists of 200 rooms and is decorated with 428 sculptures. The pearl of the garden is the Chinese tea house, built in 1754-57. and adorned with palm columns and gilded figures. The second period of intensive development of Sanssouci is associated with the name of Friedrich Wilhelm IV. While still crown prince, he ordered the construction of the classically styled Charlottenhof Palace (1826-29), the Roman Baths and residential building for the court gardener, made in the style of an Italian villa. The largest building of this period is located to the north of the main alley Orangery. Potsdam is familiar to many tourists in the first place in the combination of the “Potsdam Conference”. It took place in the most modern palace of the city Cecilienhof, built in the early twentieth century. for the crown prince and his fiancee. The building has the shape of a quadrangle and is made in the style of English country houses. The appearance of the premises where the conference was held remained unchanged, as well as the flowerbed in the shape of a five-pointed star in front of the main entrance to the palace. The Museum of the Potsdam Conference occupies only a small part of the palace, in the rest of the rooms there is a four-star hotel.
The Marble Palace was the favorite residence of Friedrich Wilhelm II. The palace with a garden is located on the shore of Lake Neuensee. It was built in the classicist style of brick and Silesian marble. It currently houses an exhibition about Friedrich Wilhelm II.
The old town of Potsdam is made up of pieces: Prussian two-three-story mansions of the 18th-19th centuries. and restaurants in the old German style; The Dutch quarter, built in 1734-42. for the Dutch artisans who moved to the city; the Russian village of Alexandrovka, where the descendants of Russian serf singers, donated to the Prussian court at the beginning of the 19th century, still live. Potsdam has many more historical monuments. Among them is the Nauener Tor gate., built in 1755 in neo-gothic style; Brandenburg Gate in the form of a triumphal arch, erected in 1770; classic school building Kant; old market square with a church from the early 19th century Nikolaikirche, Old Town Hall.
Potsdam is the heart of German cinema. For film lovers, a tour of the Babelsberg film studios is still an event. The Film History Museum houses scenery from legendary German films. And those who want to take a look behind the scenes can head to the Babelsberg Film Park to see how stuntmen work or scenes for new films are filmed.
