POTSDAM, potedilm. The capital of a dis trict of the same name, a royal residence and the scat of the administration of the Prussian Prov ince of Brandenburg, situated on the Potsdamer Werder, an island in the Havel, 16 miles south west of Berlin, with which it is connected by three railway lines (Map: Prussia, E 2). The town is celebrated for its beautiful situation amid the numerous lakes of the Havel, as well as for its picturesque environs embellished by luxurious gardens, royal palaces, fountains, statues, etc. The city proper consists of the old town and four suburbs. Of the suburbs the Teltower, on the south, is connected with the old town by a fine stone bridge crossing the intervening Freund schaftsinsel. Potsdam is laid out in regular, broad and shaded streets, which form a number of fine squares. The Wilhelmsplatz has a statue of Frederick William III., and the Lustgarten, opposite the palace, is adorned with a number of statues and busts, including a statue of Frederick William I. The principal churches are the Garri son Church, built in 1731-35, with a high tower, and containing the remains of Frederick the Great and his father in a vault under the chancel; the Church of Saint Nicholas (1830-37), built from designs by Schinkel, with a fine dome; and the Friedenskirche, in the style of an early Chris tian basilica, at the entrance to the Park of Sans Souci.
Of the many secular edifices of note may be mentioned the palace, originally erected in 1670, and rebuilt in 1750, and containing the apart ments of Frederick the Great; the town hall (1754), with a gilded figure of Atlas on its gable; the military orphan asylum; the theatre; the barracks, etc. Potsdam has a number of fine gates, of which the Brandenburg Gate, in the west, built in 1770 in the style of a Roman tri umphal arch, leads from the city to the Park of Sans Souci (q.v.). The park contains, besides the
famous residence of Frederick the Great, the pal ace of Charlottenhof, with reliefs by Thorwald sen, and the new palace, at the western end of the park, founded by Frederick the Great and used as a summer residence by Emperor Wil liam II.
Potsdam has only few- industries. Its chief manufactures are sugar, beer, and optical instru ments. The Geodetic Institute is located here. Of the noted places in the vicinity may be men tioned the Russian settlement of Alexandrovka, north of the city, founded by Frederick William III., in 1826; the Neu-Garten. stretching along the Heilige See, with the Marble Palace on the lake: the Pfingstberg in the north, with a fine Belvedere; the Klein-Glienicke on the left bank of the Havel, with the palace of Prince Frederick Leopold, surrounded by a splendid park; the pal ace of Babelsberg, with its fine art collections and beautiful fountains: the Brauhausberg, com manding a fine view of the surrounding country; and the Telegraphenberg. with an astrophysical observatory. The population of the city was 59.814 in 1900, chiefly Protestants.
The importance of Potsdam dates from the sec ond half of the seventeenth century, when the Great Elector Frederick William built there a palace and laid out the Lustgarten. It was. how ever, during the reign of Frederick the Great that Potsdam attained its full development and fame. Consult: (Je•vbichte der kiiniglichen Resi denzstadt Potsdam. ed. by A. R. (Potsdam, 1883) ; Sello, Potsdam and Sans Souci (Breslau, 1888).