Potsdam

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This article is about the German city of Potsdam. There is also Potsdam, New York in the United States of America.

For the Potsdam Conference, see Potsdam Conference.

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Coordinates: 52°24′N 13°4′E

Potsdam


Country	Germany
State	Brandenburg
District	urban district
Population	146,635 source (2005)
Area	187.28 km²
Population density	783 /km²
Elevation	35 m
Coordinates	52°24′ N 13°4′ E
Postal code	14401-14482
Area code	0331
Licence plate code	P
Mayor	Jann Jakobs SPD
Website	potsdam.de

Sanssouci, the symbol of the city

Potsdam [ˈpɔtsdam]" is the capital city of the federal state of Brandenburg in Germany. It is situated on the Havel river, south-west of Berlin.

The city features a series of interconnected lakes and is well known for its unique cultural landscapes, in particular the parks and castles of Sanssouci, a World Heritage Site.

Potsdam-Babelsberg also serves as one of the leading centers of European film production. The Babelsberg Studios increasingly collaborates with major companies from Los Angeles. The Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg frequently records soundtracks for domestic and foreign-based film productions. The orchestra also presents many concerts in the Nikolaisaal, primarily live performances of silent films and crossover projects.

1 History
- 1.1 Recent history
2 Politics
3 Sister cities
4 Education and research
5 Sights in Potsdam
6 External links

[edit] History

Potsdam was probably founded in the 10th century as a Slavic village called "Poztupimi", centred on a castle. It was first mentioned in 993, and by 1317 is mentioned as a small (already German) town, gaining its town charter in 1345. In 1573 it was still a small market town (2000 inhabitants); the Thirty Years' War (1618 - 1648) destroyed nearly half the town.

Potsdam's fortunes changed dramatically when it was chosen for the hunting residence of Frederick William I, elector of Brandenburg, in 1660. It also housed a Prussian barracks. The city was later also adopted as a residence of the Prussian royal family. The majestic buildings were mainly built during the reign of Frederick the Great. The Sanssouci Palace (in French: "without cares", by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, 1744) is one of these buildings, famed for its formal gardens and Rococo interiors.

Historical map of Potsdam (1888)

While Berlin was the official capital of Prussia and later of the German Empire, the court remained in nearby Potsdam, and many government officials also settled in Potsdam. The city lost this status as a second capital in 1918, when World War I ended and the emperor Wilhelm II was deposed.

At the beginning of the Third Reich a ceremonial handshake between President Paul von Hindenburg and the new Chancellor Adolf Hitler took place on 21 March 1933 in Potsdam's Garnisonskirche (Garrison Church), symbolising a coalition of the military (Reichswehr) and Nazism.

Potsdam was severely damaged in bombing raids during World War II. The Cecilienhof palace was the scene of the Potsdam Conference from 17 July to 2 August 1945, as the victorious Allied leaders (Harry S. Truman; Winston Churchill followed by Clement Attlee; and Stalin) met to decide the future of Germany and postwar Europe in general.

[edit] Recent history

The Glienicke bridge, used for exchange of spies during the cold war

The government of the GDR endeavoured to erase the symbols of Prussian militarism. Many historic buildings, many of which were badly damaged in the war, were torn down.

Potsdam, being to the south-west of Berlin, bordered on West Berlin after the construction of the Berlin Wall. This not only cut it off from West Berlin but also doubled commuting times into East Berlin. The Glienicke bridge across the Havel connected the city to West Berlin, and was the scene of some Cold War exchanges of spies.

After German reunification Potsdam became the capital of the newly re-established state of Brandenburg.

[edit] Politics

The old Town Hall

Potsdam has had a mayor (Bürgermeister) and city council since the fifteenth century. From 1809 the city council was elected, with a super-mayor (Oberbürgermeister) at its head. In the Third Reich the mayor was selected by the NSDAP and the city council dissolved; it was reconstituted in token form after the Second World War, but free elections did not take place until after reunification.

Today the city council is the central administrative organ of the city. The last local elections took place on 26th October 2003, with the next in 2008. From 1990 to 1999 the Chairman of the city council was known as the "Town President" (now simply "Chairman of the city council"). The mayor is elected directly. In the last mayoral election, on 22 September 2002, no candidate gained an overall majority, and a run-off election was held between Jann Jakobs (SPD) and Hans-Jürgen Scharfenberg (PDS), with Jann Jakobs gaining the narrowest of victories, with 50.1%.

[edit] Sister cities

Opole, Silesia, Poland, since 1973
Minsk, Belarus
Bobigny, France, since 1974
Jyväskylä, Finland, since 1985
Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, since 1988
Perugia (Italy), since 1990
Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA, since 1990
Lucerne, Switzerland, since 2002

[edit] Education and research

The most representative part of the University of Potsdam

Potsdam is a university town. The University of Potsdam was founded in 1991 as a university of the State of Brandenburg. Its predecessor was the Akademie für Staats- und Rechtswissenschaften der DDR "Walter Ulbricht", a College of Education founded in 1948 which was one of the GDR's most important colleges.

The Einstein Tower was built in 1921 to prove the Theory of relativity.

In addition there is a College of Film and Television (Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen "Konrad Wolf" HFF), founded in 1954 in Babelsberg, the foremost centre of the German film industry since its birth. There are also several research foundations, including a Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research, Max Planck Institutes for Gravitational Physics (Albert-Einstein-Institute), Colloids and Interfaces, and Molecular Plant Physiology, and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research,which employs 140 people in researching climate change.

Along with universities, Potsdam is home to great grammar schools. Montessori Gesamtschule Potsdam is considered the best Montessori school in the country. Located at Schlüterstraße 2 D-14471 in western Potsdam, 400 students attend from all around Brandenburg and Berlin. School starts at 8:30 and ends at 15:30.

[edit] Sights in Potsdam

Fortunaportal and Nikolaikirche at Alter Markt

Potsdam has been a center of european immigration. The religious tolerance attracted people from France, Russia, Netherlands and Bohemia. This is still visible in the culture and architecture of the city. The Alter Markt (Old Market Square) is Potsdam's city center. For three centuries this was the place of the Stadtschloß (City Palace), a royal palace built in 1662. Under Frederick the Great, the palace became the winter residence of the Prussian kings. The palace was severely damaged by bombing in 1945 and further demolished in 1961 by the Communist authorities. In 2002 the Fortunaportal (Gate of Fortune) was rebuilt in its original historic position, which marks the first step in the reconstruction of the palace.

The Chinese House

Orangerie at night

The Alter Markt is dominated by the dome of the Nikolaikirche (St. Nicolas Church), built in 1837 in classicist style. It was the last work of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, who designed the building but did not live to see the completion of the building, which was only finished by his disciples Friedrich August Stüler and Ludwig Persius.

The eastern side of the Market Square is dominated by the Altes Rathaus (old city hall), built in 1755 by the Dutchman architect Jan Bouman (1706-1776). It has a characteristic circular tower, crowned with a gilded Atlas bearing the world on his shoulders.

North of the Alter Markt is the oval Französische Kirche (French Church), erected in the 1750s by Boumann for the Huguenot community, and the Brandenburg Gate (built in 1770, not to be confused with the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin).

Another landmark of Potsdam is the two-street Holländisches Viertel (Dutch quarter), an ensemble of buildings is unique in Europe, with about 150 houses built of red bricks in Dutch style. It was built in 1734-1742 under the direction of Jan Bouman to be used by Dutch craftsmen who had been invited to settle here by King Frederick Wilhelm I. Today this area is one of Potsdam's most visited neighborhoods.

North of the city center is the Russian Colony Alexandrowka, a small enclave of Russian architecture (including an Orthodox chapel) built in 1825 for a group of Russian immigrants. Since 1999 the colony is part of the UNESCO world heritage.

The Brandenburg Gate

East of the Alexandrowka colony is a large park, the Neuer Garten (New Garden), which was laid out from 1786 in English style. The site contains two smaller palaces, one of them Cecilienhof, where the Potsdam Conference was held in July-August 1945.

Another interesting area of Potsdam is Babelsberg, a quarter east of the centre, housing the UFA film studios (Babelsberg Studios), and an extensive park with some interesting buildings, including the Schloß Babelsberg (a neo-Gothic palace by Schinkel) and the Einstein Tower, built in 1920-24 by architect Erich Mendelsohn.

Castle of Babelsberg

However, the attraction which draws most visitors to Potsdam is Park Sanssouci, 2km west of the city center. In 1744 the King Frederick the Great ordered the construction of a residence here, where he could live sans souci ("without worries", in the French spoken at the court). The park hosts many magnificent buildings:

Sanssouci Palace, a relatively modest palace of the Prussian royal and German imperial families.
The Orangery, former palace for foreign royal guests.
The Neues Palais ("New Palace"), built between 1763 and 1769 to celebrate the end of the Seven Years' War, in which Prussia ousted Austria from its centuries-long role as the dominant power in German affairs. It is a much larger and grander palace than Sanssouci, having over 200 rooms, and served as the guest house for numerous visitors of the house of the Prussian king.
Charlottenhof, a Neoclassical palace by Karl Friedrich Schinkel (built in 1826)
The Römische Bäder (Roman Baths), built by Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Ludwig Persius in 1829-1840. It is a complex of buildings including a tea pavilion, a Renaissance-style villa and a Roman bathroom (from which the whole building takes its name).
The Chinesisches Teehaus ("Chinese Tea House"), an eighteenth-century pavilion built in a Chinese style, which was the fashion of the time.