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Schwielowsee is a municipality in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the shore of the Schwielowsee lake, a part of the Havel river. The municipality was founded on December 31, 2002 in merger of the three villages Caputh, Geltow and Ferch. A cable ferry across the Havel links Caputh and Geltow. In the east Schwielowsee shares border with the City of Potsdam, in the west with the town of Werder.
[edit] History
Geltow (together with Potsdam) was first mentioned as Slavic Geliti within the Hevelli lands in a 993 deed by Emperor Otto III, who ceded it to his aunt, abbess Matilda of Quedlinburg. The ford in the Havel had been a significant river-crossing since ancient times. Today the Bundesstraße 1 federal highway crosses the river at the Baumgartenbrücke.
[edit] Sights
- Caputh Palace, built in 1662 by Philip de Chiese, quartermaster general of Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg. In 1671 Frederick William gave the palace to his second wife Dorothea of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. Notable is the Tile Hall (Fliesensaal) of 1720 with about 7,500 pieces of Delftware tiles, placed by order of King Frederick William I of Prussia. The park was designed by Peter Joseph Lenné in 1820.
- The Caputh village church is a work by Friedrich August Stüler. Built in a basilica form, it was consecrated in 1852 in the presence of King Frederick William IV of Prussia.
- The village church of Geltow was built according to plans of the unlucky Emperor Frederick III after the model of the church of Terlano in Bolzano-Bozen, with glazed roof tiles and a spire outside the nave. It was consecrated in 1887. Friedrich's last visit on June 6, 1888 was perpetuated by Theodor Fontane in his poem Kaiser Friedrich III. Letzte Fahrt.
- Summer house of Albert Einstein in Caputh, built in 1929. Einstein, though a non swimmer, was a passionate recreational sailor on the lake, but was only able to use his retreat until the Nazi takeover in 1933. After German reunification and the restitution to the Einstein family, the house is now a property of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
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