Discover the Highlights of Potsdam on a Private Tour

A villa with a view – the Belvedere Pfingstberg offers you a superb view of Potsdam’s palaces and parks. Belvedere – the beautiful view – is exactly what you get when you look out at Potsdam’s palaces from the Belvedere on the Pfingstberg. A view of lakes and forests, of palaces and parks, of all of “Prussian Arcadia” in its consummate beauty.

Theodor Fontane introduced what is probably the most famous Potsdam cemetery with the remark that, "What dies in Sanssouci will be buried in Bornstedt." He was alluding to the numerous generals, army officers, chamberlains, valets, Privy Councillors, court doctors, and royal master-builders, "however, above all, court gardeners arrayed by the battalion." The cemetery is distinguished not only by the grave of Heinrich Wilhelm Wagenführer, the only member of the famous 'tall fellow' grenadiers of the life guards battalion of the Soldier King to be laid to final rest here, but also the graves of Kurt von Plettenberg, the only participant in the ill-fated July 20, 1944 plot to overthrow Hitler who was to receive a regular funeral, and Ludwig Justi, the director of the National Gallery in Berlin for many years.

Just 400 footsteps away from Sanssouci Palace is an ‘Italian hamlet’: the Crown Estate Bornstedt, once a manor of the Prussian Crown. Since 2002, the elaborately restored architectural ensemble has been shining in its renewed splendor. The interior of the former manor of the Hohenzollern also carries you away into history.

The Brandenburg State Parliament was constructed on one of the oldest settlements in Potsdam, Germany. Fortresses, castles and a city palace once stood on this site over 250 years ago. The city palace was ruined during the second world war and completely demolished in 1959. The former town centre became a wasteland. Since 1999, efforts to redevelop the city centre began to take shape. This includes a new parliament building to be constructed within the perimeter and outline of the historic Potsdam city palace. Moreover, the new building was designed to closely replicate the structure and appearance of the Potsdam city palace façade.

See the place where the Allied powers met after the Second World War to discuss the occupation of Germany – Cecilienhof Country House in Potsdam. The last palace of the Hohenzollern dynasty was begun in 1913 and scheduled for completion in 1915. Kaiser Wilhelm II had it built for his oldest son, Crown Prince Wilhelm. The prince and his wife Cecilie – after whom it was named – opted for the style of an English country house, having previously lived at the Marmorpalais, the Kaiser’s summer residence. The architect Paul Schultze-Naumburg, a conservative proponent of traditional architecture, was commissioned to build the palace. The eccentric combination of cottage style and 55 Tudor Gothic chimney stacks was intentional on the part of the architect and adds to the palace’s unique charm, along with the dark oak beams that decorate parts of the façade.

There are exactly 134 red, two-storey brick houses, arranged on four squares. Known as the Holländerhäuser (“Dutch houses”), they were built for Dutch immigrants by the architect Jan Bouman between 1734 and 1742. They make up the largest exclusively Dutch housing development outside the Netherlands. Well preserved and refurbished, they are now the core of a popular area in the historic centre of Potsdam. You can find arts and crafts shops, galleries, workshops, antique dealers and cosy cafés throughout the district, as well as two museums.

The Marble Palace was built starting in 1787 for Frederick William II in accordance with the plans of Carl of Gontard. The interior finish with its early classicistic furnishings was completed long after the king’s death (1797) in 1845. The concert hall, the adjacent anteroom and the oriental cabinet were some of the numerous rooms created by Carl Gotthard Langhans, who took over construction management after Gontard. From the upper floor you have a fantastic view over the New Garden, the lake Heiliger See and the Havel landscape.

Now a memorial site, Potsdam's central remand prison for Soviet Counter Intelligence – colloquially known as 'KGB prison' – is a particularly sinister Cold War relic. All sorts of real or alleged crimes could land you here, including espionage, desertion, insubordination or Nazi complicity. Using letters, documents, photographs, personal items and taped interviews, exhibits outline the fate of individuals.

The garden was laid out around a lake in the late 18C for Friedrich Wilhelm II, who was very keen on English gardens. The garden is scattered with small buildings (Orangery, Dutch outhouses which were the servants' quarters and the Pyramid to keep the ice cool). The marble palace (Marmopalais) was the summer residence of Friedrich Wilhelm II.

The Old Town Hall is located on Old Market Square near the Church of Saint Nicholas. This administrative building was designed and erected by the famous architect Johann Boumann between the years 1753 and 1755. Many of the buildings in Potsdam incorporate the Italian style, and the Old Town Hall is not an exception. The gilded statue of Atlas stands sublime on the edge of the building's dome.

Old Market Square is Potsdam's historical center. For three centuries this was the site of 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 was demolished in 1961 by the Communist authorities. Old Market Square is dominated today by the dome of Nicolas Church (Nikolaikirche), built in 1837 in the classical style. It was the last work of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, who designed the building but did not live to see its completion. It was finished by his disciples Friedrich August Stüler and Ludwig Persius. The eastern side of Market Square is dominated by the Old City Hall that was built in 1755 by the Dutch architect Jan Bouman (1706–1776). It has a characteristic circular tower, crowned with a gilded Atlas bearing the world on his shoulders.

The Alexandrowka colony was created in 1826-27 upon the request of Frederick Wilhelm III in memory of his deceased friend Czar Alexander I. The artist's village was built in the ground plan of a hippodrome, within which a St. Andrew's Cross is laid. The village consists of 12 yards, one warden's house at the point of intersection, a royal mansion, and a Russian Orthodox chapel (1829) on the neighbouring Kapellenberg hill in the north.

Potsdam is considered an attractive destination for tourists the world over. The historical legacy of the Prussian city of royal residence is reflected in UNESCO's decision to include Potsdam-Sanssouci and its unique array of gardens and palaces in the list of World Heritage Sites in 1990. The best-known landmark of the city is perhaps the famous palace of Sanssouci. The Hohenzollern palace was designed and built in the years 1745 to 1757 by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, who in turn had been commissioned by none other than the Prussian king Frederick the Great. The Rococo palace is situated above the southern slope of Potsdam in the hills of Bornstedt.

The Protestant St. Nicholas Church is one of the most significant examples of architecture of German classicism. Beginning in 1828 it was built in accordance with plans of Karl Friedrich Schinkel in cooperation with his disciples Ludwig Persius and August Stueler. Its floor plan looks like a Greek Cross, where one cross arm is extended by a half-round apse. The portal is underpinned by four pillars and is reminiscent of an antique temple. With its dome, visible from afar, the St. Nicholas Church is one of Potsdam’s landmarks.