Fachhochschule Potsdam

Pfingstberg (Potsdam) is a hill in Brandenburg, Germany. The Belvedere auf dem Pfingstberg sits atop the hill.

The Biosphäre Potsdam (7,000 m²) is an indoor tropical botanical garden located in the Volkspark Potsdam, a park between the Sanssouci Park and the Neuer Garten Potsdam (New Garden) at Georg-Hermann-Allee 99, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany. It is open daily; an admission fee is charged. The garden contains approximately 20,000 tropical plants representing about 350 species, including orchids, epiphytes, and trees about 14 metres in height, including a palm grove and mangrove swamp. It also includes tropical crops, a waterfall, two lakes, and various types of tropical wildlife, including iguanas, snakes, spiders, frogs, geckos, and pheasants, as well as a butterfly house containing about 30 butterfly species.

The Royal Country House in Potsdam is situated on mount Kapellenberg and was originally constructed for the sexton of the Russian Orthodox chapel of Saint Alexander Nevsky nearby. The façade of the log house recalls simple German and Russian farm constructions. It was actually used as a royal residence. On the second floor, King Frederik William III would give tea parties, sometimes gathering up to 40 persons. Interior furnishings of the royal rooms affected extreme simplicity. Only a samovar from Tula and table and tea services produced by the Berlin royal porcelain manufactory specified the high position of the dweller. A porcelain service, gift of the Russian emperor Nicholas I, was decorated with painted gold on a malachite background, and scenes of rural life. Since Frederik William's time there has been a tiny monument to Tsar Alexander I, one meter in height.

The Alexander Nevsky Memorial Church is an historic Russian orthodox church in Potsdam, Germany. The church was built for the Russian residents of the settlement of Alexandrowka, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, below the Kapellenberg. Consecrated in 1826, it is still an active congregation and the oldest Russian Orthodox church in Germany. Designed by Vasily Stasov, Nevsky Church is a very early example of the Byzantine Revival architecture in Germany, and one of the earliest examples of Byzantine Revival in Russian Revival architecture.

The Belvedere on the Pfingstberg (German: Belvedere auf dem Pfingstberg) is a large structure north of the New Garden in Potsdam, Germany, at the summit of Pfingstberg hill. It was commissioned by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia and built between 1847 and 1863 as a viewing platform. Because of its architecture and historical importance, the Belvedere forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin, inscribed in 1999.

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.

The Obelisk entrance (German Obeliskportal) constitutes the eastern limit of Sanssouci Park in Potsdam, Germany. Following plans by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, Frederick the Great ordered in 1747 that this exit from the park be built. The New Palace, built at a later date, stands in the line of sight of the entrance; the two are connected by the roughly 2 km long main alley. Two sandstone statues from the workshop of the sculptor Friedrich Christian Glume stand next to the pillars positioned in a square, right and left from the lower gateway to the park. Flora, the goddess of flowers, and Pomona, the goddess of fruit, draw attention to the fusion of the ornamental and kitchen garden styles in the park. The obelisk entrance was used in Frederick's time solely as an exit from the park. This is the reason that the figures look into the interior of the park, so that they can say farewell to the guests. The name of the palace is written a few steps beyond the obelisk. Likewise sketched by von Knobelsdorff, it indicates the boundary of Sanssouci Park. The decorative hieroglyphs were given over to the imagination of the artist and thus contain no text, as in the 18th Century a translation of the ancient characters was not possible.

The Neptune Grotto (German: Neptungrotte) close to the Obelisk entrance in Sanssouci Park, Potsdam, was created by Frederick the Great between 1751 and 1757 to beautify the park. Built following plans by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff it arose as a representation of the revived interest in garden architecture. The grotto ought to have been a component of the numerous fountains of the park, which did not function at that time, owing to a lack of technical knowledge. The trident wielding god of the sea, Neptune, establishes a relationship to water. The conches on the sides, arranged into the shape of waterfalls and the great shell inside, made from many real shells, are a characteristic theme of Rococo.

The Picture Gallery (German: Bildergalerie) in the Sanssouci Park of Potsdam was built in 1755–64 during the reign of Frederick II of Prussia under the supervision of Johann Gottfried Büring. The Picture Gallery is situated east of the palace and is the oldest extant museum built for a ruler in Germany.

The Ruinenberg is a hill in the Bornstedt borough of Potsdam, located north of Sanssouci Park. In 1748, the Prussian king Frederick the Great had a water tank with a capacity of around 7,600 cubic metres (270,000 cu ft) built on top to supply the Sanssouci water features, and had it decorated with artificial ruins. From 1841 a surrounding landscape garden was laid out at the behest of King Frederick William IV of Prussia, according to plans designed by Peter Joseph Lenné.

The Brandenburg Gate (German: Brandenburger Tor) on the Luisenplatz in Potsdam, not to be confused with the gate of the same name on Berlin's Pariser Platz, was built in 1770–71 by Carl von Gontard and Georg Christian Unger by order of Frederick II of Prussia. It stands at the western end of Brandenburger Straße, which runs in a straight line up to the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul. Previously, from 1733, there was another, simpler gate on the same spot, which resembled a castle gateway. Together with the city wall, a form of toll or excise barrier, and the other gates it was intended to prevent desertion and smuggling. Towards the end of the Seven Years' War, Frederick the Great had the old gate demolished and built, in its stead, this new Brandenburg Gate, as a symbol of his victory. For that reason the Brandenburg Gate resembles a Roman triumphal arch. Its prototype was the Arch of Constantine in Rome. The Roman influence of its architectural style can be seen, for example, in the double columns of Corinthian order as well as the design of the attic. A feature of the Brandenburg Gate is that it has two completely different sides, designed by two architects. Carl von Gontard designed the city side, his pupil, Georg Christian Unger, the field or countryside-facing side. Gontard made the city side as a rendered facade with Corinthian-style lesenes and trophies, Unger designed the field site in the style of the Arch of Constantine with Corinthian double-columns and ornamentation like the golden trumpets. The two side entrances for pedestrians were not added until 1843, under Frederick William IV, in order to cope with the increase in pedestrian traffic. At that time people had to pass the Brandenburg Gate if they wanted to make their way to the town of Brandenburg, hence the name. The gate leads walkers into the city centre pedestrian zone of Brandenburger Straße in an easterly direction up to priory church of St. Peter and St. Paul. Since the city wall was demolished around 1900 the Brandenburg Gate has been a free-standing structure.

The Protestant Church of Peace (German: Friedenskirche) is situated in the Marly Gardens on the Green Fence (Am Grünen Gitter) in the palace grounds of Sanssouci Park in Potsdam, Germany. The church was built according to the wishes and with the close involvement of the artistically gifted King Frederick William IV and designed by the court architect, Ludwig Persius. After Persius' death in 1845, the architect Friedrich August Stüler was charged with continuing his work. Building included work by Ferdinand von Arnim and Ludwig Ferdinand Hesse also. The church is located in the area covered by the UNESCO World Heritage Site Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin. The cornerstone of the churchhouse was laid on 14 April 1845. The building was dedicated on 24 September 1848, though construction continued until 1854. The structure resembles a High Medieval Italian monastery.