Potsdam is the capital and largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of Berlin, and lies embedded in a hilly morainic landscape dotted with many lakes, around 20 of which are located within Potsdam's city limits. It lies some 25 kilometres southwest of Berlin's city centre. The name of the city and of many of its boroughs are of Slavic origin.
Image: 2018 08 10 DE Potsdam, Havel, Potsdamer Stadtschloss, Charlottenhof 05609390 (49952695592)
Image: Alte Rathaus Potsdam November 2013
Image: Brandenburg Gate in Potsdam
Image: Potsdam Neues Palais 1717
Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 square kilometres and a population of 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth-largest German state by area and the tenth-most populous. Potsdam is the state capital and largest city, and other major towns are Cottbus, Brandenburg an der Havel and Frankfurt (Oder).
Eisenhardt Castle in Bad Belzig
Brandenburg's victory over Swedish forces at the Battle of Fehrbellin in 1675
The Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, the former summer palace of Frederick the Great, is today a World Heritage Site.
Glienicke Bridge, which connected East Germany to the American sector of West Berlin, became known for the exchange of captured spies.