Potsdam is a city of palaces and gardens, of the media industry, and science and research. The city is indebted to the positive traditions of its history, while oriented in its development towards the future. Today Potsdam's qualities are defined by the harmony between its Prussian-influenced world cultural heritage and an economy and science oriented towards the future, as well as by its role as the state capital of Brandenburg and its unique situation on the water and within the region of the Berlin metropolis.
Tradition, innovation, dynamics, and quality of life define Potsdam's profile.
City of palaces and gardens
The core of Potsdam's UNESCO world heritage status are the palaces and gardens built by inspired artists and landscape architects in centuries past. They are also the basis of Potsdam's international fame and its attraction to tourists. The palaces and gardens are the irresistible magnet drawing tourists to Potsdam and an essential factor in Potsdam‘s traditions. They are also the standard for the state capitol's urban development. The main focus of this development is to recover the historic form of the city center, which began with the rebuilding of the "Fortunaportal" (Portal of Fortune) and unearthing the grounds of the former city palace.
A modern media site
The city's tradition as a media location goes back decades. After 1911, Babelsberg earned world-wide fame as the cradle of the German film industry. Today more than 5,000 people are working here in the media industry.
Just as Babelsberg was an international location for production of classical cinema films up until 1990, so television production and a blossoming multimedia industry are inseparable elements of today's 'media city' Babelsberg. Existing studios have been renovated and modernized and new ones are appearing on the scene. Outstanding infrastructure, highly-qualified personnel, and the wide-ranging spectrum of film, TV and multimedia offer incomparable opportunities for development and synergy for innovative media enterprises. Babelsberg is home to the Brandenburg Broadcasting Station for East Germany (ORB), Studio Babelsberg, the UFA Production Group, as well as numerous other media businesses. Five hundred students are taught in the new 'Konrad Wolf' building of the University for Film and Television. The German Broadcasting Archive also resides in the grounds of the Media City. The archive serves as administrator of the programs and press archives of the former GDR television and radio broadcasting.
The Babelsberg Film Park is a first-class tourist attraction. Here the visitor gets to take a peek behind the scenes of film and TV productions.
City of education and science
Science and research play a major role in the city's development and hold the most important potential for the future. There are currently more scientists per inhabitant in Potsdam than in any other German city.
A decisive impetus for a new approach in the area of the sciences came in 1991 with the new grounding of Potsdam University, as well as a technical college of higher education, and the GeoForschungsZentrum (geo-sciences center). The city's century-old background in the scientific sphere is upheld and continued by these institutions as well as by many other public and private facilities and companies.
Today, there are more than 20 scientific institutions working in and around Potsdam, making Potsdam an attractive location for companies dedicated to innovative technologies. Universally-known companies, for example Oracle and Volkswagen, have opened branch offices in our city. High-tech companies are already converting their discoveries into valuable products, for example in the field of biotechnology.
Potsdam's three technical education facilities - university, technical college, and the university for film and television - embody the future of Potsdam to a great degree. The relevant value added by domains of natural and engineering sciences, computing science, media businesses, and information technologies make up the basis for the further economic development of the city.
A city to live in
Potsdam's development into an attractive place to live continues apace. In addition to the center of the city, the new residential areas, home to more than one-half of Potsdam's population, are also being improved in design and function.
Cultural attractions - ranging from independent sponsors all the way up to high culture - are important components of the quality of life in our city. The House of Brandenburg-Prussian History, the Nikolaisaal auditorium, the Schiffbauergasse cultural center with its future theater building, the Sanssouci music festival, and the Potsdam Palaces Night give a sense of the breadth of cultural offerings.
Potsdam offers a wide range of educational opportunities - from primary school up to adult evening classes - and thus enables lifetime learning. In addition to the public schools, there are also private institutions, which further expand the educational possibilities in the city.
Sports enjoy high status in Potsdam. Thousands of enthusiasts participate in more than 100 sport clubs, competing successfully on state and national levels, and having fun in the process. The center for competitive sports is the ‘Luftschiffhafen' sports and leisure park. The Olympic Center and the 'Friedrich Ludwig Jahn' school for top athletes, among others, are currently based here. In particular, the rowing teams, canoeists, swimmers, and athletes from this sports center and those from the German Federal Armed Forces sports sponsorship groups have brought Potsdam renown far beyond the borders of Brandenburg through their victories. These clubs count among the best in their sports world-wide.
The great variety of public events in Potsdam are accessible to all who are interested. There are already many people now contributing to the city's development processes in various ways. Committed citizens, clubs, and associations play their part in the organization of the social life in the city, eagerly involved with promotion of urban development, of culture, education, and sports, and thus contributing to the further improvement of the quality of life in our city.
Since the Great Elector, Frederick William, issued his Edict of Tolerance in 1685, Potsdam can look back on a long tradition of peaceful working and living together between local residents and strangers. Foreigners - French, Swiss, Dutch, Russian, and others - time and again provided impetus to the city's development and left behind their marks in its architecture, crafts, and way of life.
Potsdam is a city with a history of more than 1,000 years (first mentioned in 993), marked by Prussian kings and German emperors, and linked with the "Day of Potsdam" and the "Potsdam Agreement." Preserving history, maintaining traditions, shaping the present and the future - in this exciting atmosphere and embedded in a cultural landscape unique in the world, Potsdam is developing into one of the most beautiful state capitals in Germany.
