For a period of more than three centuries the best architects, landscape designers, and artisan-craftsmen of their era worked under the orders of the Brandenburg and Prussian rulers. During this time, they built the Hohenzollern's residencies with their magnificent palaces, parks, and gardens. As an appreciation of that achievement, Potsdam celebrated 2004 as the "Year of Parks and Gardens."
The ranks of those for whom these splendid works were carried out extends from the Elector Joachim II and the Great Elector, to Frederick the Great and the last German Emperor, William II. Their fame has been secured throughout Germany, and the world at large, in Potsdam )which was the second royal seat after Berlin), particularly in its buildings, gardens, and parks.
