Cecilienhof Palace, Potsdam (must see)

Schloss Cecilienhof (Cecilienhof Palace) is a palace in the northern part of the Neuer Garten park in Potsdam, close to the Jungfernsee lake. It has been part of the Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990.

Cecilienhof was the last palace built by the Hohenzollern family. Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany had it erected for his son, Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, and the crown prince's wife Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The house was designed by Paul Schultze-Naumburg to look like an English Tudor country house and built between 1914 and 1917. Its design was based on a house called 'Bidston Court' (later 'Hillbark') on the Wirral Peninsula, which in turn was inspired by Little Moreton Hall. The interior was furnished according to plans by Paul Troost, who originally had designed steamship décors.

Cecilienhof was the location of the Potsdam Conference between 17 July and 2 August 1945. The rooms had been largely refurnished to match the taste of the participants. Winston Churchill, later Clement Attlee, Joseph Stalin and Harry S. Truman met at the round table in the great hall. On 26 July 1945 Churchill and Truman issued the Potsdam Declaration defining the terms for Japanese surrender, while Truman had already given order to prepare the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Today Cecilienhof is a museum as well as a hotel. Queen Elizabeth II visited Cecilienhof on 3 November 2004. On 30 May 2007, the palace was used for the G8 foreign ministers summit.