Features
The Berlin Wall
An Excursion to Potsdam
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An Excursion to Potsdam
Visits to several palaces can be combined on a trip to Potsdam, southwest of Berlin. The setting for the 1945 Potsdam Conference,
at which Allied leaders redrew the European map, is Cecilienhof Palace (Schloss Cecilienhof), a mock-Tudor 1916 building now
partly used as a hotel. It was built for Kaiser Wilhelm II; although his nation was two years into a war with Britain, the
Kaiser chose to have it built in the style of an English country house. The royal Hohenzollern family lived here until 1945.
The conference hall, delegates' studies and the reception rooms used by Churchill, Truman and Stalin are unchanged and can
all be seen.
The palace that really draws crowds to Potsdam is the Sanssouci Palace (Schloss Sanssouci), on the town's western outskirts.
This summer retreat was where Frederick the Great could enjoy life “without care” (sans souci). A green dome tops the single-story,
yellow rococo facade; inside the richly furnished rooms are full of artworks and ornaments. Sanssouci Park has lovely gardens,
an 18th-century Chinese teahouse and the third Potsdam palace: Frederick's New Palace (Neues Palais), with its vast marble
hall and indoor grotto decorated with shells.
The town of Potsdam also is worth seeing. St. Nicholas' Church (Nikolaikirche) is one of Karl Friedrich Schinkel's classical
monuments. In the Old Town, sculptures of rearing horses mark the site of the former royal stables, and the 17th-century Marstall
building is now a movie museum. Built in 1732, the New Town became the focus of Potsdam's exiled French Huguenot (Protestant)
community. Some redbrick, gabled houses survive in the Dutch Quarter; they were built for Dutch construction workers who came
to build the New Town.
Phone:
Cecilienhof Palace, Sanssouci Palace and New Palace: 0331 969 4200
Hours:
Cecilienhof and Sanssouci Palaces: Tue.-Sun. 9-5, Apr.-Oct.; 9-4, rest of year; Sanssouci Park: daily dawn-dusk; New Palace:
Sat.-Thu. 9-5, Apr.-Oct.; 10-4, rest of year
Bus:
692, 695 or the S-Bahn (Potsdam Stadt). Tour operators in Berlin offer day trips by bus (inquire at the tourist office)
Admission:
Cecilienhof Palace €2-€4; Sanssouci Palace more than €4 (guided tour only); New Palace €2-€4
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