From the New Market Square to the City Canal

© H. Kreft

Until the 18th century, Potsdam covered only a small area. On one side it was bordered by the Havel river. At that time, the city border almost ran along today's Heilig-Geist-Straße (Holy Ghost Street), the Straße Am Kanal, Yorckstraße, and Dortustraße . In 1660, before the palace was built by Elector Frederick William, there were just 198 dwellings in the whole of Potsdam, with 119 of them recorded as "abandoned," thus without occupants, and 29 were noted as "impoverished." The construction of the palace changed both the structure of buildings and the population. However, there is very little surviving evidence of this. Due to the work provided by the palace construction, the standard of living increased in the town. However, the planned clearance of the old Potsdam, and the subsequent new development, could not take place because of the shortage of money.

The New Market Square, Potsdam's most beautiful square today, is an architectural jewel. Almost completely spared from the destruction of war and lovingly restored in the 1990s, it is Potsdam's only town square which remains nearly the same as it was in the 18th century.

Originally a place where horses were harnessed and unharnessed, the old stable house was reduced to its current size as a result of several houses being built on the site in 1725. Under the direction of Frederick II, new representative townhouses were built on the square now known as the Neuer Markt.

The New Market Square, home to a number of scientific institutions, is a center for the humanities in Potsdam today.