The wounds which were inflicted on the Potsdam city center by the bombing raid on April 14, 1945, are still not completely healed. However, some measures have been taken to restore the damage to the center. In 2002, the Fortunaportal was rebuilt. The portal is named after the Roman goddess of Fortune, a figure of which surmounts the structure. It was the entrance portal to the former Stadtpalais - the city palace, the reconstruction of which is an important, and thus also a passionately discussed objective of the city center's renewal. The Nikolaikirche church - built by Schinkel - stands along the side of the Fortunaportal and on the opposite side, is the Old Town Hall. These structures, with their domes, frame the Alten Markt - the Old Market square - on three sides.
However, Potsdam' inner-city is more than the fragmented center. Buildings of the past three centuries characterize the cityscape, with a major part dating from the 18th century. The mostly two-storey buildings built during the reign of Frederick William I (also known as the Soldier King) and his successor Frederick II (renowned as Frederick the Great) represent the urban center with the Brandenburgerstraße street, Potsdam's main shopping street, directly in its middle. The streets are laid out in straight lines, the typical houses arrayed in formation, partly with the look reminiscent of the Dutch style, which gave the Holländischer Viertel (the Dutch quarter) its name. Once upon a time they were surrounded by a town wall, of which all that remains are the three town gates.
This district of the city was declared a re-development district in 1992-93. The renovation and re-development contributed a great deal to the revival of the residential area and to the general improvement of the cityscape.
On the occasion of the BUGA in 2001 (the National Horticultural Show) the inner-city acquired another green area: the Neuer Lustgarten - the New Pleasure Garden. There is certainly no lack of green in the inner-city. On the Freundschaftsinsel (Friendship Island) in the middle of the Havel river is the Display and Viewing Garden with special shrubs grown by Karl Foerster, the world-renowned cultivator of perennials who once lived in Potsdam and carried out his life's work here.
Since 2000, Potsdam has boasted a new main rail station centrally located between the city center and the state government facilities. The Landtag (the state parliament building) stands on Brauhausberg hill, from where one has a beautiful view out onto the city and the Havel river landscape. This building, which once served as a military school, is now too small and no longer suitable for its current use. The construction of a new state parliament building has already been announced.
