Centre for Contemporary History

Acht Ecken (Eight Corners) is the name of a former architectural ensemble in Potsdam, Germany. At the intersection of Schwertfegerstraße and Friedrich-Ebert-Straße, four identical baroque houses were built on the corner plots in 1771 by Bayreuth architect Carl von Gontard. Each building was designed with a concave facade towards the crossroads, resulting in eight corners in total. Today, only one of the four buildings is left. Friedrich-Ebert-Straße was turned into a wide traffic artery after World War II destructions, occupying the two eastern building sites. The southwestern property was rebuilt with a modern prefab concrete building in the 1960s.

The Potsdam City Palace (German: Potsdamer Stadtschloss) 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 (the winter residence) of the margraves and electors of Brandenburg, later kings in Prussia, kings of Prussia and German emperors. Heavily damaged in World War II and later dismantled by the East German communist regime, the partial reconstruction, with historic facades and a modern interior, was completed in late 2013. The building has since served to house the parliament of the federal state of Brandenburg.

St. Nicholas Church (German: St. Nikolaikirche) in Potsdam is a Lutheran church under the Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia of the Evangelical Church in Germany on the Old Market Square (Alter Markt) in Potsdam. The central plan building in the Classicist style and dedicated to Saint Nicholas was built to plans by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in the years 1830 to 1837. The tambour of the 77-metre-high church that towers above the roofs of the city was built later, from 1843 to 1850. Its construction was taken over by Ludwig Persius and, from 1845, Friedrich August Stüler. Towards the end of the Second World War, the church was hit during the British air raid on Potsdam and subsequently badly damaged by Soviet artillery fire. After many years of rebuilding the church was re-consecrated in 1981 by the Evangelical Parish of St. Nicholas, Potsdam, and, today, is open to visitors. In addition to the normal church services, concert events are also held in the church.

The Old Market Square (German: Alter Markt) 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.

The Lange or Langer Stall (literally Long Stables) was a timber framed riding school and drill hall in Potsdam, built in 1734 under Frederick William I of Prussia. Almost all of it was destroyed in the Second World War, with the only survivor being the gateway facade commissioned by Frederick the Great and designed by Georg Christian Unger.

The Alte Rathaus is a Palladian building in the Old Market Square in Potsdam. It was built for Frederick the Great between 1753 and 1755 to designs by Johann Boumann and Carl Ludwig Hildebrandt. It was modelled on the Palazzo Angarano in Vicenza, designed by Andrea Palladio but never built. It was damaged by the 1945 air raid on Potsdam and rebuilt between 1961 and 1966. It has housed the Potsdam Museum.

The Palast Barberini, more recently also known as the Palais Barberini, was a classicist-baroque town house built under the Prussian King Frederick II according to designs by Carl von Gontard between 1771 and 1772 at Humboldtstraße 5/6 in Potsdam. Its main façade faces the Alter Markt with the Potsdam City Palace and the St. Nicholas church. The building was named after the Palazzo Barberini in Rome, which the king had chosen as a model. The Potsdam recreation of the Italian model formed the monumental south-eastern end of the Alter Markt and, together with the neighboring Noacksches Haus at Humboldtstraße 4, also designed by Gontard, was one of the last buildings to be built around the square under Frederick II. In the middle of the 19th century, the palace building was extended by two side wings at the rear facing the Havel according to designs by Ludwig Persius and Ludwig Ferdinand Hesse and used as a venue for Potsdam's cultural and club life. The Palast Barberini was largely destroyed in an air raid on April 14, 1945 and the ruins were demolished during the Soviet Occupation Zone. The site was then used as a green space and parking lot for a long time. As part of the redevelopment of the center of Potsdam with the reconstruction of the city palace as a new state parliament building and other buildings in the neighborhood, the Palast Barberini was rebuilt from 2013 to the end of 2016 with an exterior largely based on the original for use as the art gallery Museum Barberini after donations from the entrepreneur Hasso Plattner.

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. The director of the Museum Barberini is Ortrud Westheider.

The Garrison Church (German: Garnisonkirche) 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 (295 feet), 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 St. Nicholas Church and 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. The Garrison Church was an important place in the early modern History of Germany. Johann Sebastian Bach, Alexander I of Russia, Napoleon and others visited the building. In addition, it served as burial site of Frederick William I and his son Frederick the Great. Potsdam's first freely elected council members met in the Garrison Church, Lutheran and Reformed Protestants founded the Prussian Union of Churches in it, and classical concerts took place there. In Nazi Germany, the building was used for propaganda purposes; at the same time, many 20 July plotters belonged to the Garrison Church parish.

The Roman Catholic Church of Ss. Peter and Paul is centrally located in the centre of Potsdam, and ends the Brandenburger Strasse to the east, at the western end of which is the Potsdamer Brandenburger Gate. The present church building was completed in 1870 and served equally the Potsdam parishioners (now part of the Archdiocese of Berlin) and the Catholic soldiers who were stationed in the city. Since 1992 it has had the status of a provost church.

The Great Military Orphanage (Großes Militärwaisenhaus) was a school and training institution for the children and orphans of dead, killed or impoverished soldiers and aged between 6 and 17 in Potsdam. It was founded by Frederick William I of Prussia on 1 November 1724. It taught its pupils reading, writing, arithmetic and Christianity and then helped them learn a trade. The foundation still exists and supports youth work projects. It is the largest enclosed Baroque complex in the city, consisting of buildings at 36 Dortustraße, 34 Lindenstraße and the military hospital at 9 Breite Straße. A monopteros topped by a golden figure of caritas on the main building dates to 1771 and is one of the city's most prominent landmarks.

Nauener Tor (Nauen Gate) is one of the three preserved gates of Potsdam, Germany. It was built in 1755 and is the first example of the influence of English Gothic Revival architecture in Continental Europe.