Acht Ecken, Potsdam

Acht Ecken (Eight Corners) is the name of a former architectural complex. At the intersection of Schwertfegerstraße and Friedrich-Ebert-Straße, four identical Baroque houses were built on the corner plots in 1771 by Bayreuth architect Carl von Gontard. Each building was designed with a concave facade towards the crossroads, resulting in eight corners in total. Today, only one of the four buildings is left. Friedrich-Ebert-Straße was turned into a wide traffic artery after the destruction of WWII, which necessitated the demolition of the two eastern buildings. The southwestern property was replaced with a modern prefab concrete building in the 1960s.

Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Sybillesonne.

Sight description based on Wikipedia.

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Sight Name: Acht Ecken
Sight Location: Potsdam, Germany (See walking tours in Potsdam)
Sight Type: Attraction/Landmark

Walking Tours in Potsdam, Germany

Create Your Own Walk in Potsdam

Creating your own self-guided walk in Potsdam is easy and fun. Choose the city attractions that you want to see and a walk route map will be created just for you. You can even set your hotel as the start point of the walk.

Neuer Garten Walking Tour

Laid out at the behest of Friedrich William II in 1787, Potsdam's Neuer Garten (New Garden) was indeed "new" compared to the already in place Sanssouci Park.

Between 1816 and 1828, the area was modified further as an English-style, open landscape garden, with an aim to reproduce nature – trees and plants were left to grow naturally, unshaped and untrimmed. Rural life was also... view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 2.8 Km or 1.7 Miles

Potsdam Introduction Walking Tour

Potsdam was likely founded during the seventh century by the Hevelli tribe. The town was mentioned by the name of Poztupimi in a document from Emperor Otto III. The name likely came from an old Western Slavonic term roughly meaning "beneath the oaks."

By the early 1300s, a small town had formed with a town charter. By 1573 the town had around 2,000 people living there. Potsdam rose to... view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 3.8 Km or 2.4 Miles

Sanssouci Park Walking Tour

Sanssouci Park is a unique Potsdam landmark that occupies 290 hectares in the heart of the city. The Park is named after the Sanssouci Palace that it surrounds, which in turn takes its name from the French phrase "sans souci", which means carefree, and implies that the palace was designated as a place of fun, rather than a seat of power.

Indeed, the Sanssouci Palace was built in 1747... view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 3.9 Km or 2.4 Miles