Self-guided Sightseeing Tour #2 in Potsdam, Germany

Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) is a German research institute. It is the successor of the Berlin Observatory founded in 1700 and of the Astrophysical Observatory Potsdam (AOP) founded in 1874. The latter was the world's first observatory to emphasize explicitly the research area of astrophysics. The AIP was founded in 1992, in a re-structuring following the German reunification.

Wikipedia: Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (EN), Website, Heritage Website

Babelsberg Park is a 114 hectare park in the northeast of the city of Potsdam, bordering on the Tiefen See lake on the River Havel. The park was first designed by the landscape artist Peter Joseph Lenné and, after him, by Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau and Karl Friedrich Schinkel, by order of the then-prince William I and his wife, Augusta. Located on a hill sloping down to the lake, the park and castle are part of the Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin, which were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List because of their unique architecture and testimony to the development of landscape design.

Wikipedia: Babelsberg Park (EN), Url, Heritage Website

The Kellertor, named after the Kellerstraße leading to the Electoral Wine Cellar, was one of a total of ten historic Potsdam city gates. Together with the remains of the city wall from 1722 in the Große Fischerstraße and the beginning of the city canal, the building marked the city's eastern access to the water.

Wikipedia: Kellertor (DE)

The Nuthepark is a near-natural landscape park in Potsdam. The park stretches along the east bank of the Havel south and north of the mouth of the Nuthe, starting in the south at Potsdam Central Station to Babelsberg Park. It was newly created between 1998 and 2001 in the course of preparations for the Federal Garden Show 2001 on a fallow site. To connect the two parts, the Nuthe is spanned by a pedestrian and cyclist bridge shortly before the mouth. The green spaces newly created in 2020 by the Investment Bank of the State of Brandenburg are to merge with the areas of the Nuthepark in the future.

Wikipedia: Nuthepark (DE)

The Knobelsdorffhaus is a town house at Alter Markt 9, formerly Brauerstraße 10, in the immediate vicinity of the Old Town Hall on the east side of the Alter Markt in Potsdam. Together with the Old Town Hall and the glass passageway, it forms the Potsdam Museum in place of the destroyed Windelband House.

Wikipedia: Knobelsdorffhaus (DE), Heritage Website

The Museum Barberini is an art museum in Potsdam opened in 2017. Its exhibitions range from the so-called Old Masters to contemporary art, with an emphasis on impressionist painting. Centered around works from the collection of its founder and patron Hasso Plattner, the Barberini presents three temporary exhibitions per year, featuring loans from international museums and private collections. Academic conferences serve to prepare these exhibitions. At the same time, shorter gallery displays – the so-called “art histories” – put works from the collection into constantly shifting contexts. The museum aims to offer a diverse programme of events and educational activities as well as digital offers like the Barberini App and the 4K Smart Wall in the museum.

Wikipedia: Museum Barberini (EN), Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Website, Youtube

The Potsdam Museum – Forum for Art and History, founded at the beginning of the 20th century, has one of the largest collections of art, cultural and regional history in the state of Brandenburg with over 250,000 objects. The collection reflects the civic commitment and passion for collecting of the founding years. The diverse collections include cultural-historical and military-historical areas as well as works of artistic creation.

Wikipedia: Potsdam Museum (DE), Facebook, Website, Youtube

The Old Town Hall in Potsdam is located there on the Alter Markt in the vicinity of the Nikolaikirche, the Museum Barberini and opposite the City Palace. It was built between 1753 and 1755 according to ideas and on behalf of Frederick the Great and according to plans by the master builders Johann Boumann and Christian Ludwig Hildebrandt. As with other buildings in Potsdam, Italian Baroque architecture served as a model.

Wikipedia: Altes Rathaus (Potsdam) (DE), Heritage Website

, Heritage Website

The Old Market Square is a centrally located square in downtown Potsdam which forms the historical centre of the city. The square consists of the area around St. Nicholas' Church. Today the term refers in particular to the area directly in front of the church. It is bordered by several prestigious historical buildings. The square has been the site of much architectural reconstruction work in recent years which has restored much historic building fabric that was lost in World War Two.

Wikipedia: Old Market Square, Potsdam (EN), Heritage Website

The Fortuna Portal on the Old Market Square in Potsdam, opposite the Church of St. Nikolai, was designed by the Dutch architect Jean de Bodt in 1701 as the entrance gate to the Potsdam City Palace and inaugurated in 1701 on the occasion of the self-coronation of Elector Frederick III as King Frederick I of Prussia. Since then, the construction of the Fortuna Portal has been regarded as the beginning of classical Potsdam architecture.

Wikipedia: Fortunaportal (DE)

The Potsdam City Palace is a building in Potsdam, Germany, located on the Old Market Square, next to the St. Nicholas' Church (Nikolaikirche). It was the second official residence of the margraves and electors of Brandenburg, later kings in Prussia, kings of Prussia and German emperors.

Wikipedia: City Palace, Potsdam (EN)

The carriage horse stable is an architectural monument on the Neuer Markt in Potsdam. It was built in the years 1787–1789 by Andreas Ludwig Krüger in the style of classicism. The former stable for the carriage horses of the city palace ensemble has been home to the House of Brandenburg-Prussian History since 2003.

Wikipedia: Kutschpferdestall (DE), Heritage Website

The Brandenburg Museum for Future, Present and History, until 2024 House of Brandenburg-Prussian History, is a museum on the Neuer Markt in Potsdam, which is located there in the carriage horse stable. It sees itself as an open forum for active engagement with Brandenburg and Prussian history.

Wikipedia: Haus der Brandenburgisch-Preußischen Geschichte (DE), Website

The Garrison Church was a Protestant church in the historic centre of Potsdam. Built by order of King Frederick William I of Prussia according to plans by Philipp Gerlach from 1730 to 1735, it was considered as a major work of Prussian Baroque architecture. With a height of almost 90 metres, it was Potsdam's tallest building and shaped its cityscape. In addition, the Garrison Church was part of the city's famous "Three Churches View" together with the St. Nicholas Church and the Holy Spirit Church. After it was damaged during the British bombing in World War II, the East German authorities demolished the church in 1968. After the German reunification, the Garrison Church is currently being rebuilt as a centre for remembrance and reconciliation.

Wikipedia: Garrison Church (Potsdam) (EN), Facebook, Website

The houses at Schloßstraße 13 and 14 in Potsdam are protected buildings as architectural monuments.

Wikipedia: Schloßstraße 13 und 14 (Potsdam) (DE), Website

The Filmmuseum Potsdam was founded in 1981 as the "Film Museum of the GDR", making it the oldest film museum with its own collection and exhibitions in Germany and receiving its current name in 1990. It has been under the sponsorship of the state of Brandenburg since 1991 and is part of the Film University Babelsberg. At the centre of the collections and the permanent exhibition are the world's oldest film studio in Babelsberg, its film productions and the artists who worked there on films by Bioscop, Ufa, DEFA and Studio Babelsberg. Temporary exhibitions, family exhibitions and foyer exhibitions on German and international film and media topics complement the exhibition programme. The Film Museum operates a museum shop and a cinema with several screenings daily, silent film screenings are accompanied by music on the historic Welte cinema organ.

Wikipedia: Filmmuseum Potsdam (DE), Website

The Marstall is an architectural monument on Breite Straße in Potsdam. Built in 1685 by Johann Arnold Nering in the Baroque style as an orangery, it has been rebuilt and expanded several times in the course of history. The former riding horse stable of the city palace is the oldest surviving building in the city and has been home to the Potsdam Film Museum since 1981.

Wikipedia: Marstall (Potsdamer Stadtschloss) (DE), Heritage Website

The petition linden tree stood in Potsdam in Humboldtstraße, at the southern corner of the City Palace. It was the most famous tree in the city. On the site of the original tree there is now a second lime tree, which is also called the petition lime tree.

Wikipedia: Bittschriftenlinde (DE)

The Step of the Century is a bronze sculpture that was created by Wolfgang Mattheuer in 1984. It is considered one of the most important works of art in the GDR at the time of the division of Germany and is a parable of the turmoil of the 20th century.

Wikipedia: The Step of the Century (EN)

The Lustgarten was the oldest garden in Potsdam. Its former area is framed by Breite Straße with the Marstall in the north, the Havel in the east, the railway embankment in the south and the Ministry of the Interior in the west. Created as a baroque garden for the city palace under the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm and half transformed into a parade ground under King Frederick William I, the rest was redesigned by Frederick II and in 1829 by Peter Joseph Lenné. After the Second World War, the damaged Lustgarten was built over with the Ernst Thälmann Stadium and later with the Interhotel Potsdam. On the occasion of the Federal Garden Show in 2001, after the demolition of the stadium without replacement, the largely sealed New Lustgarten was created as an event area.

Wikipedia: Lustgarten (Potsdam) (DE)