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Home Towns - Potsdam, Germany Church of Peace

This site is part of our Potsdam, Germany site. Click the left turn sign to get back to the Potsdam Start Site. If you came here from our Vacation 2010 sites, click the green traffic light to return.

Potsdam's Church of Peace is situated at the outskirts of Sanssouci Park. It was designed by court architect Ludwig Persius with the close involvement of the artistically gifted King Frederick William IV. After Persius' death in 1845, the design work was continued by Friedrich August Stüler while the construction was led by Ferdinand von Arnim and Ludwig Ferdinand Hesse. The design resembles a High Italian monastery. One of the original drafts bears similarities to an etching of the Basilica di San Clemente in Rome, made by early Christians and the free standing tower has its counterpart at the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. The church was dedicated in September of 1848 but building work lasted until 1854. In front of the church, a pond was designed to mirror the entire assembly. It is called the Peace Pond.

St. Joseph's hospital and the "Green Gate" - the entrance to Sanssouci Park - just outside the Church of Peace.

Almost everything in Potsdam is a copy of some larger original somewhere else in the world. (see our International Architecture site for examples from five continents.) In 1839, Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen created a marble statue of the resurrected Jesus Christ for the Church of our Lady in Copenhagen, Denmark. By many, this statue is considered the most perfect statue of Christ in the world and copies of it can be found all over the world, from the Temple Square in Salt Lake City to Legoland. One of the first copies was placed here in the church's atrium.

The Venetian mosaic decorating the church's apse, however, is not a copy! It was created in the early 13th century in a church on the island of Murano in Venice until its abandonment. When that church was deemed for demolition, Frederick William bought the mosaic at an auction for 385 Thalers and had it shipped to Potsdam. The size and design of the entire church was based on the size of the mosaic. Also part of the church is a small chapel, in which the King's widow came to pray after his death. Both King Frederick William IV and his wife, Elisabeth Ludovika von Bayern are buried in a crypt directly underneath that chapel.

Angel watching the king's tomb

Venecian Mosaic above the altar

Chapel above the crypt

Behind the church is a small garden, called the Marly Garden. In the time of Soldier-King Frederick William I, this was a fruit- vegetable- and herb-garden for the king's kitchen, located around a little pleasure house, which the king called Marly, probably after the Chateau de Marly in Paris. As part of the church's construction, royal gardener Peter Joseph Lenné turned it into a small landscape park. A small statue shows Queen Elisabeth Ludovika mourning the loss of her husband. Most of the garden is beautifully restored, but some parts seem to have remained untouched ever since the queen-widow walked these grounds.

This site is part of our Potsdam, Germany site. Click the left turn sign to get back to the Potsdam Start Site. If you came here from our Vacation 2010 sites, click the green traffic light to return.

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