Potsdam's UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Status

Babelsberg palace and park (© Christel Köster, 'Märkische Allgemeine' newspaper)

 

The Church of the Redeemer at the banks of the Havel river in Sacrow (© Bernd Gartenschläger, 'Märkische Allgemeine' newspaper)

Potsdam's cultural landscape is one of the most beautiful of Germany's world heritage sites and, when combined with Berlin, is also the largest. The ensemble effect of the parks is truly unique; the system was created over centuries by order of Prussian electors, kings and emperors. Famous artists and structure and landscape architects left their mark on the complete artistic creation of gardens and buildings, interwoven in a diverse fashion with pathways and vantage points.

Since 1990,UNESCO granted large areas of Potsdam World Heritage status, including Sanssouci park, Neuer Garten, Babelsberg and Glienicke with their palaces, the Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island), and also the Sacrow palace and park, along with its Church of the Redeemer. Fourteen other listed areas were added to Potsdam's World Cultural Heritage list in 1999. Lindstedt palace and park, the Russian colony Alexandrowka, and the Pfingstberg with the Belvedere and the Sternwarte Astronomical Observatory in the Babelsberg park were among them.