Potsdam is the capital of Brandenburg and
borders Berlin. The town has population of
approx. 160,000. It is widely known for its
castles and landscape as a World Heritage
Site. Potsdam is more than 1000 years old.
Many historic buildings are under re-construction
after World War II and the period of the GDR.
For most of its recent history Potsdam has
not been accessible from Berlin. The last
station before the former GDR was Wannsee.
Many of the buildings that are visible today
have been reconstructed after the bombings
of the Second World War and after the lax
care of the East German Government.
Potsdam has several claims to national and
international notability. In Germany, it had
a similar status that Windsor has in the United
Kingdom: it was the residence of the Prussian
kings and the German Kaiser, until 1918. Around
the city there are a series of interconnected
lakes and unique cultural landmarks, in particular
the parks and palaces of Sanssouci, the largest
World Heritage Site in Germany. The Potsdam
Conference, the major post-World War II conference
between the victorious Allies, was held at
another palace in the area, the Cecilienhof.
Babelsberg, in the south-eastern part of Potsdam,
was a major film production studio before
the war and has enjoyed increased success
as a major 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 from the 19th century. Today, there
are three public colleges, the University
of Potsdam and more than 30 research institutes in the city.
