Potsdam Again Revisited

My last visit dates back to St. Sylvester 2023, when Red Baron celebrated the transition to the new year in Potsdam.

On the second day of our trip to Berlin, we took the S-Bahn from Berlin Hauptbahnhof (the central station) to Potsdam Hauptbahnhof. We walked across the Havel Bridge to the rebuilt Stadtschloss (City Castle) and the Alter Markt, home to the impressive dome of St. Nicholai church.

The bright yellow, classic-style building was not there during my last visit. It caught our attention. It is a reconstruction of the 1945-destroyed Plögerscher Gasthof, built in 1754 during the time of Frederick the Great.

This reconstructed "inn" has been named Building of the Year 2024 by the association "Stadtbild Deutschland" (Cityscape Germany): The enormous care taken in the detailed work on these facades radiates a high quality that is otherwise unmatched in new buildings.

The Plögersche Gasthof at the corner of Friedrich-Ebert-Straße and Anna-Zielenziger-Straße.
The dome of St. Nikolai Church on the Old Market Square is visible in the background.
©picture alliance/dpa

Wikipedia knows: The figures embody typical hospitable motifs that recall the building's former use as an inn, where people ate, drank, and danced. For example, in addition to a musician with a flute, the goddess of tree fruits, Pomona, and the goddess of agriculture, Ceres, are depicted.

 
We took the tram to Brandenburgerstraße and walked up to the Brandenburg Gate. There are many small shops and cafés.

The outlet of the Royal Porcelain Factory, founded in 1763, caught our attention. Frederick also wanted to earn money with white gold, just like the Saxon and Bavarian kings.

Potsdam's Brandenburg Gate

At the sight of the Brandenburg coat of arms, Red Baron instinctively hummed the state anthem:

Steige hoch, du roter Adler, über Sumpf und Sand Über dunkle Kiefernwälder, heil dir, Mein Brandenburger Land

Soar high, red eagle, over swamp and sand Over dark pine forests, hail to you My Brandenburg Land

On our way to the Sanssouci Park, we passed the Monument of the Three Empresses' Crowns, symbolizing Potsdam's royal identity. The crowns belong to Empress Augusta, wife of Wilhelm I, the first Kaiser of the Second Empire; Victoria, wife of Frederik III, the 99-day Kaiser; and Auguste Viktoria, wife of Wilhelm II, the last German Kaiser.

While approaching the gate to Sanssouci Park, we noticed a lady pulling up in an electric-powered vehicle with benches for disabled visitors.

Passing the Chinese tea pavilion in the mild autumn sun

We travelled with her to the Neues Palais (New Palace), which is now part of the University of Potsdam.

The New Palace without scaffolds (©A.Savin/Wikipedia)

Frederick the Great wanted to show the world that, following the Hubertusburg Peace, a peace of exhaustion, Prussia had still enough money to build a Neues Palais. The building was scaffolded.

Instead, we met roof statues, scrambled in a collection center waiting to be cleaned and restored.

And suddenly, on our way back, we saw Katie, the beautiful hoodie (Corvus cornix), whom I had met before in Potsdam, giving us the cold shoulder.

We arrived at the foot of the Sanssouci hill.

View of the sun-drenched terrace of the famous vineyard and the historic mill of Sanssouci.

We made our way through the park and admired the Prussian accuracy.

Katie had followed us and found a pleasant place to rest.

 

Frederick's grave marker with the obligatory potatoes.

The sun symbol above an entrance to the courtyard of the Sanssouci Palace. The Prussian Elector Friedrich Wilhelm featured the sun on his flag eagle and defiantly claimed "Non soli cedit," meaning he would not yield to the Roi soleil, Louis XIV, whose sun shone everywhere (Fulget ubique).

Promptly, in 1675, the Great Elector suffered a bitter defeat against the Sun King in distant Alsace in the Battle of Türkheim.

We bought tickets to the Sanssouci Palace at the Foundation of Prussian Palaces and Gardens.

There he was, the flute player of Sanssouci. An epigone of the artistic Frederick the Great, of whom his father, who wanted to make his young son a Prussian soldier, said: "Fritz is a Querpfeiffer* and a poet. He doesn't care about soldiers and will ruin all my work. I would like to know what goes on in that little head of his. I know that he doesn't think like me." 

*A traverse flute player, but it could also mean a rebel

A guest room with a sleeping alcove

The interior of the Sanssouci Palace is filled with oil paintings, but they are so far from visitors that it is impossible to make out their motifs.

  

 

 This painting was an exception and depicts King Frederick and his architect, Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, inspecting construction work.

Here is the exciting line of sight in the middle of the castle from one end to the other.

Since I had it with the birds. Here is a white stork (Ciconia ciconia) from the Chinese-style decorated room at Sanssouci.

The grey heron (Ardea cinerea) is also a native bird.

And here comes the star, the Silberreiher (great egret; Ardea alba),

A final view of the Sanssouci Palace. Because of my interest in other birds, Katie was offended and kept her distance.

On our way out, my brother in the walking stick, the Great Frederick, bid us goodbye.

Although time was running short, we took a quick look at the courtyard of the Peace Church near the entrance to Sanssouci Park.

   

On the civil war in South Sudan

Finally, peace, or just hope?

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