Berlin Gate

Potsdam (German pronunciation: [ˈpɔt͡sdam] (listen)) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It directly borders the German capital, Berlin, and is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel some 25 kilometres (16 miles) southwest of Berlin's city centre. Potsdam was a residence of the Prussian kings and the German Kaiser until 1918. Its planning embodied ideas of the Age of Enlightenment: through a careful balance of architecture and landscape, Potsdam was intended as "a picturesque, pastoral dream" which would remind its residents of their relationship with nature and reason.The city, which is over 1000 years old, is widely known for its palaces, its lakes, and its overall historical and cultural significance. Landmarks include the parks and palaces of Sanssouci, Germany's largest World Heritage Site, as well as other palaces such as the Orangery Palace, the New Palace, the Cecilienhof Palace, or the Charlottenhof Palace. Potsdam was also the location of the significant Potsdam Conference in 1945, the conference where the three heads of government of the USSR, the US, and the UK decided on the division of Germany following its surrender, a conference which defined Germany's history for the following 45 years. Babelsberg, in the south-eastern part of Potsdam, was already by the 1930s the home of a major film production studio and it has enjoyed success as an important center of European film production since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Filmstudio Babelsberg is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world.Potsdam developed into a centre of science in Germany in the 19th century. Today, there are three public colleges, the University of Potsdam, and more than 30 research institutes in the city.

The Nuthe is a river in Brandenburg, Germany, left tributary of the Havel. Its total length is 65 kilometres (40 mi). The Nuthe originates in the Fläming region, near Niedergörsdorf. It flows north through Jüterbog, Luckenwalde, Trebbin and Saarmund. The Nuthe joins the Havel in central Potsdam. It has been said that crossing the Nuthe three times in a row is good luck.

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 museum FLUXUS+ is located in Potsdam, Germany and opened in the city's new cultural centre Schiffbauergasse in April 2008. It is Potsdam's first museum of modern art. The 1000 sqm exhibition space of the two-storey building comprehends artworks from private collections. With its large art+life-shop, its café, an “atrium” for temporary exhibitions and events, the museum FLUXUS+ has become a cultural meeting point not only for artists and art-lovers. The permanent exhibition of the museum FLUXUS+ consists of artworks, documents and films of and about the international and intermedia art movement fluxus. On the ground floor, it features works of Wolf Vostell, Emmet Williams, Ben Patterson, Nam June Paik, and other artists of the 1960s. Besides, works of artists like Arman, Lebel, Christo, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Hains, Leve, and Ann Noël are presented in order to give a general idea of the avant-garde of the second half of the 20th century. The exhibits on the second floor of the museum focus on the art and lifework of Wolf Vostell. Here, rather the smaller art objects, sketches, and paintings than oversized works of Vostell reflect his motto “Leben ist Kunst. Kunst ist Leben”. The collection comprehends some of Vostell's earliest sketches as well as works that he completed shortly before his death, thus, illustrates his work as a fluxus-and happening-artist, designer, composer, painter, and video pioneer. Furthermore, the museum features today's interpretation of “Kunst ist Leben” by presenting the works of four contemporary artists: Costantino Ciervo, Hella De Santarossa, Lutz Friedel, and Sebastian Heiner.

The Waschhaus (English: wash house) is the largest nightclub of the Brandenburg state capital Potsdam in Germany. Founded in the summer of 1992 in the laundry rooms of the former garrison in the Schiffbauergasse, forty young people interested in art and culture started to present parties, events and exhibitions. Soon afterwards the Waschhaus e.V. club was founded. Now the Waschhaus Potsdam, it has established itself as a centre of art and culture with the main focus on music, film, dance and fine arts, has become a major attraction for the Potsdam cultural scene. Thousands of visitors attend the Schiffbauergasse every week to listen to concerts, see exhibitions, enjoy themselves at parties, watch movies or participate in dance workshops. Popular bands to have played here include Bloodhound Gang, Freundeskreis, Blumfeld, 17 Hippies and Wir sind Helden. Other highlights are the monthly exhibitions of nationally and internationally successful artists and the very popular open air cinema in the summer. In 2002, over 150,000 people visited the Waschhaus.

The Dutch Quarter (Holländisches Viertel) is a neighborhood in Potsdam, consisting of 134 red Dutch brick buildings, almost all of which have been renovated. It was built from 1733 to 1740 and designed by Jan Bouman following the order of Frederick William I of Prussia.

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 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.

Potsdam Hauptbahnhof is the main station in the German city of Potsdam, capital of the state of Brandenburg. It lies on the Berlin–Magdeburg railway and was founded in 1838. However, it has had this name only since 1999. It was originally called Bahnhof Potsdam (Potsdam station) and it was called Potsdam Stadt (city) station from 1960. The station is the terminus of line S7 of the Berlin S-Bahn, which comes from Ahrensfelde. It is also connected with the central bus station, which is a transfer point between Potsdam and the southwestern region of Berlin, and has a stop on the Potsdam tram network. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 2 station.

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.

The Hans Otto Theatre (German: Hans-Otto-Theater), named after the actor Hans Otto, is a municipal theatre in Potsdam in Germany. Its headquarters and main venue is in the Großes Haus am Tiefen See in Potsdam's cultural district on Schiffbauergasse. Other regular venues are the neighbouring historic Reithalle and occasionally the Palace Theatre in the Neues Palais.