Brauhausberg

The view from Brauhausberg hill overlooking the city with its parks and gardens is so breathtaking that Prussian King Frederick William III had a belvedere built here for his wife, Queen Louise. It was destroyed in the bombing raids of World War II. However, the Royal Prussian War School, a massive building in the imperial-romantic castle style, completed in 1902, was repairable. After World War I, the Reich Archives moved in, followed by the Army Archives under the Nazis. During this period, 14 meters of the ornate tower structure disappeared. In a somewhat more austere appearance, the SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) took over the building in the late 1940s and housed a district headquarters. This is why the people of Potsdam still call the building "the Kremlin" today. After 1993, it served as the seat of the Brandenburg State Parliament for over 20 years, until the parliament moved to the reconstructed City Palace. Even today, one can enjoy a wonderful view of the city from Brauhausberg hill.