Glienicke Palace

Glienicke Palace was designed by the great Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel between 1825 and 1837 for Prince Carl of Prussia, the third son of King Friedrich Wilhelm III, as a summer residence in the Italianate classicist style that Schinkel pioneered in Germany. The palace sits on a terrace overlooking the Havel river and the Glienicke Bridge, which during the Cold War was the famous "Bridge of Spies" where exchanged agents crossed between East and West — the palace grounds offer a direct view of this historically charged crossing. The interior is notable for the casino wing (a festive dining and entertainment suite) with Pompeian-style wall paintings and stucco decorations inspired by the excavated Roman villas of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The park was designed by Peter Joseph Lenné, Prussia's greatest landscape architect, who integrated sculptures, water features, the Glienicke Hunting Lodge, and views across the Havel to the Nikolskoe church and the Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island). The palace is a UNESCO World Heritage site as part of the Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin ensemble. It is reachable by bus from Potsdam Hauptbahnhof or the Wannsee S-Bahn station in about 20 minutes, and fits naturally into a cycling or walking tour of the Havel river palaces.