To mark the occasion there is a lot of celebrating going on in potsdam capital of the state a friend and berg. The citys center has been turned into an open air exhibition each of the 16 german states is showcased in a glass cube like this one. But central to the exhibition is of course the history of germanys division and eventually coming together as one unified nation. That fateful event in 990. 00 also paved the way for potsdam to recover some of its historical splendor. In the 30 years since germanys reunification potsdam has and aids a bit quite the contrary actually the city center has been completely revamped and. The pression palaces and parks have received a thorough beauty treatment most importantly though the days of walls and border fences separating pots them from neighboring berlin are long gone. Well spent part of the day strolling around parks downs famous palaces parks and guard. Well also take a tour of cecilia palace where the momentous potsdam conference took place. And as always well share our holiday video with you this time from my yorker. For over 2 centuries potsdam was the favorite residence of prussian kings evidence of that can still be seen in the city scape today. Mocked or old Market Square with its off a list in the Historical Center of the city over the past 30 years the square has been reconstructed to resemble its former state. St Nicholas Church is one of the few buildings around here that didnt have to be entirely rebuilt after the war. Ravaged influence standing in front of the st Nicholas Church behind tearing plots down from the church was designed by concentrating on an architect who did quite a lot of work in this area why it was destroyed in the 2nd world war well that is to say the dome was destroyed it was rebuilt in the 1980 s. On the occasion of shingles 200th birthday then after reunification the church was renovated shingle staircase which we stored so people can now go out onto the roof you have a very nice view from up there. For example you can get a good look at the Old City Hall another of the original buildings that was refurbished in 2010 and now houses the museum of the citys history. The rest of the neighborhood also changed a lot over the past 30 years. Visit here to us and here we see the museum i knew arts museum. It looks as if it were an old Historical Building but its actually a new construction. Its modeled on the pallets about bahamian rome. Well this is how it looked in the past the entire length of homebush tassel was lined with historic palace facades 3 have been rebuilt but 2 as you can clearly see were replaced by modern buildings we hear on the banks of the half full sized thats a right behind this beautiful building is the river. Thats where the best hotels and restaurants used to stand they all had terraces facing the water it looked a little bit like venice. Theres a lot of italianate architecture in parts down. My head it probably would have been easier to build something contemporary on the square out wind of the city obvious for historic reconstruction. As there was a time when the half constructed shell of the huns not o. T. R. Just a tear a big hulking block that was a prestige project for east germany and then in the wall fell the political situation changed and eventually a decision was made to tear it down so then the space was empty and open and there were plans to reconstruct potsdam city palace that is the state parliament. And then someone thought hey weve got a great ensemble here with the Old City Hall innocent nicholass church lets construct a state parliament in the historic style. Phone. In 2014 the new version of park stems majestic city phallus was ready for. The columns are old bullet holes from the 2nd world war still clearly visible bits of the old city palace were integrated into the new one and over 100 places reconstruction must have been very expensive where did the money come from heaven im. Truly weve got public funding of course but there were also donations from private parties wealthy people sponsors and patrons but. They were citizens of potsdam and people whod come to potsdam unfold in love with the city or. The historic facade of the state parliament for instance was paid by one man it cost 20000000 your anus of course. And parts. Classic skyline its not finished yet a number of new Old Buildings are being planned one reason potsdam was such a favorite of prussian royalty was its location in the midst of a lush landscape surrounded by rivers and lakes. The beautiful palaces gardens and castles they built earned potsdam the nickname bursts of the north the belvedere for instance wasnt a president ial palace it was built for the sole purpose of providing an outlook. From up here you can get a great view over the landscape the royals of your left so much. During the cold war this entire landscape was fragmented by militarized zones and fortified borders separating east and west and 990 though the palaces and parts of pottstown were reunited with those in berlin on the other side of the river hospital and in that same year unesco declared the ensemble to be the 1st all german World Heritage site. There are 16 palaces in. The best known and most popular. It was also the favorite of its prussian King Frederick the great. The rococo palace hands only 12 rooms Frederick Coolidge hes vineyards with a keen to russian understatement. Frederick spent his winters in pots palace and his summers here where he could be without a care. In french. Granda was the new palace frederick had built slowly for a show to receive state guests nearly all the monarchs of europe pass through here. Seems as if every prussian keane fulfilled his dream of having a palace built here. Frederick really in the 4th and added a touch of easily to the park with his oratory palace. It was designed to house the tropical plants in the gardens collection oranges and palm trees its the largest palace in some. None of these palaces get lost among the trees avenues and sight lines direct to the masterpieces of architecture the chinese house for instance and the distance on Peacock Island in the river half full a small sum of palace what looks like a fairy tale castle is merely a wooden imitation a royal love nest built by Frederick William the 2nd for his mistress. Over on the berlin side of the river is an italian style villa with a view of the water again a care palace. Prince carlos prussia and his wife lived here though relatively modest in size the best talent of the day were commissioned to design the palace and the surrounding park architect called friedrich and gardener and Landscape Architect peter youll see if len name it was the artistic collaboration of these 2 men that gave the palaces parks and gardens of potsdam and that distinctive character. A romantic palace prime location but unfortunately not 1st sale the marble palace is also part of the unesco World Heritage ensemble. The east German Government repurpose the damage palace as an army museum this court yard was used as exhibition ground for missiles and other military apparatus the border wall was not far from here suskind has been following the developments of potsdam palaces since the 1970 s. Shes an art historian and helped pave the way towards acquiring the pristine just World Heritage status everything that were seeing plenty of people taking walks riding their bikes was this area as accessible in the days of east germany to. Yeah you know as of us well yes for the most part it was accessible all 3 garden areas and most of the palaces as well. As this was a tourist highlight evince germany a Major Cultural Institution and the inside the museums in berlin and kristen. Is going to win other words it made for a pretty backdrop but how did east germany handle the pressure on legacy in general poise us now go. Into the could it changed over time in east germany. After world war 2 the general tendency was outwith the old to create some distance to the past and that was probably true elsewhere too not just to me but here in history was regarded as a pretty decisive to the german empire even nonsystem and that transfused is unacceptable. As for the. Tightest cries of isis or dies for getting does not soon i would say this was in accept all the ornaments changed over Time Starting in the 1960 s. Or 1970 s. That the latest restoration on the state palaces and gardens began and the funds needed to do that began to flare. Up by long. After a lot has changed around here in the past 30 years which was the 1st task taken up after unification. Its a funny thing why as an art historian i was the custody and if the sculpture collection. The 1st thing my restoration colleagues did after the Monetary Union in some 1919 was to travel to corolla and purchase marble so i did that at long last they could use it for restoration work and perhaps some copies. And then the gardeners and garden historians quickly set to work repairing the damage the berlin wall had inflicted on us by park and the new garden. In top of its back out of the one god so i talk to the site even gardens had to be restored to their former glory that was a top priority getting the after news early and landscape vistas back to the way theyd been in the 18th and 19th centuries which is what eventually led to the ensemble being added to unesco world Cultural Heritage list after all discovered is that just. Were at a heritage that is in 1990 that happened quite fast had the wave been paved before the fall of the wall. To go on to whatever a lot of us was interesting in late 1989 both west berlin and potsdam in other words east germany initiated the process of getting the respective sides of the ensemble to the world Cultural Heritage list by the time it actually came to pass reunification had already happened and it became one complete Cultural Landscape this was i think is im to couture not shelved. The history culture and scenery and attract tourists from around the globe typically the city welcomes over a 1000000 visitors a year but it isnt just popular with travellers its also one of the few eastern german cities thats growing and size in 199140000 people lived here today its close 2180000. The number of celebrities have bought property here since reunification the reasons are obvious where else can you live smack in the middle of a city and at the same time be surrounded by water and nature as far as the eye can see. From pottstown well now hop on over to the aegean sea more precisely to the island of santorini normally the greek island is a popular Tourist Destination but the corona virus has left things rather quiet as lives on centering me and wants to show us his home region and another edition of our segment meet a local. Post office. Worker of the year the. Centers of work on the cross. Such a pilot in the south of the channel. Normally would complain about over tourism but this year because of the fun they admitted that it is empty. So this is one of the more famous postcard pictures from the silent famous blue dome and feels that finally with it when it came on the background the dome symbolizes the sky basically the void of the sky and in the case suspended below the support of the havent the number of churches we have this is me more than the days of the. So something has 14 villages i did comment besides the vedic phoebus ones to give the smaller villages since i. Am a function of people its religious not to make on the holy beat a loose end in borneo we had at the moment a member you know. This is supposed to be nice to see so but the beaches are empty. Or something even just one block because of the block with qana gosh but theres also one more advanced but this red red because im tied on all sides. That you know is that i dont stop at them and the commercial center normally on these places would be open and touch of a very busy but given the circumstances most of them are closed and therefore put the definitely not this in. The book at least a song of the horn to 1st us about about the time to. Sort of this is here and one of the most iconic settlements off the islands with one of the more stuff of the graft sunsets and the warped normally behind me over 3000 people would gather for watching the sunset this fear of people who give us more to feed off the 1980s. Thanks for joining me and hopefully. Justice. Konstam i have arrived at a place that will forever receive special mention in 20th century history books cecilia inhofe palace. Because there werent any suitable locations available in devastated berlin at the end of the war in 1945 the allies met here and pottstown to establish a new world order. The red star on the lawn was planted by soviet soldiers for this historic meeting the potsdam conference. Until the end of 2020 visitors can learn more about these defining days in the summer of 45. 00 in a special exhibition. It was in this very room that the u. S. The u. K. And the soviet union negotiated the future of postwar germany and europe. And the decisions made during the pont stem conference sorted things out at the end of the war on the other and also marked the beginning of the cold war a conflict that saw an iron curtain descended on the continent which eventually led to the construction of the wall. The pottstown conference makes a sealion whole palace famous the world around but its history is remarkable way beyond those 16 days and 945. 00 until that year it served as the residence to the last german crown prince and Princes William and cecille e. It was also the last palace the pression rulers had built in pottstown. Rosas. In the. Every shade. Crown princess cecilia was educated. Graceful and beautiful. Rushed. Down g. L. Shown many other women and she quickly became a style icon favored pompadour hairstyle was often copied word for fear that very hard burnt overseas the palace with the royal couple took up residence and 917. Cecelia study was photographed for an art magazine at the time the princess was the mother of 6 children. Were murdered and it is fenced that this window looks out on the princes garden and as the name suggests thats where the children played and cecilia could watch them play from her desk here or as you know it in the by the in but. Its easy to stumble over the threshold of the doorway leading into the next room just like on board the ship along with roses cecilia love the city here in what was a serious cabin on the furnishings original defense of their plea for this window actually comes from its an authentic portal with a sliding glass pane. The royal couples private chambers were on the upper floor after painstaking restoration pink roses once again graced the rooms. And guided turners Catarina Bergman shares the history of Hotel Cecilia hoff with visitors. In the 1960 s. Those who could afford it could spend the night here. Under the noise of lamps and the carpets were different of course. The ashtrays are quite nice but then people could still smoke during the conferences. And fortunately the view from this room wasnt so attractive. The border wall ran right along the shoreline. Where you see the bikes that was where guards patrolled. In 1945 the royal couple fled from the red armys approach to soviet occupiers expropriated the palace as a sealion william never returned. The postwar parts the unconference made sicilian half world famous. Today after some sushi its the most visited palace in pottstown. The gly make a bridge a symbol of German Division and reunification. This bridge connects berlin and brandenburg the border between the states goes right through it potsdam side of the bridge is painted in a light shade of green berlin side is slightly darker this line right here is where potsdam and with it east germany ended and this right here was already west berlin. During the cold war the bridge was off limits to civilians and yet it was known the world over as the bridge of spies it was used as a point of exchange of undercover agents between the us and the soviet union. With the border now gone the hospital has become quite lively today its a popular spot for boating and other watersports. Do you have any idea what the germans Favorite Island is its the belle erik island of mind york its in the mediterranean and belongs to spain my colleague elizabeth york went there for the 1st time in the summer and from the looks of it it wont be her last heres the email she sent us. I return to where i started because i cant leave potsdam without a souvenir. Here so now im happy instagram or else get the chance to stage their own daring escape on glee coverage. By memories from pop sound those will go straight into my top secret file it was truly remarkable to see what has become of pots and these past decades and will certainly be interesting to keep tabs on the citys evolution i hope you enjoyed our journey today thanks for joining me once more and ill see you next time somewhere in germany. How have you signed a permit to go 1st in the us foreign german acacia. In pop culture. Music. And last but not least. 30 years of german acacia from a perspective of. What people knocking for coming. There are many answers. There are many reasons too. And there are many alternatives. To. Make up your own. Made for minds. Every 2 seconds a person does forced to flee their homes nearly 71000000 people have been forcibly displaced. The consequences of the disastrous our documentary series displaced depicts dramatic humanitarian crises around the world you know. What a good thing when i didnt go to university to kill people that say i dont want to have my boss come to me and tell me to kill someone having in many and if i dont theyll kill me. For their lives and their future so they seek refuge abroad about the basket as me the most about this status seems to rise is that someday we wont even see the rusalka. But what will become of those who stay behind and simply my husband went to peru because of the crisis. If he hadnt gone there we would have died of hunger. Rather than on account of. The biscuit starts october 16th dog. Tag. This is the news live from Donald Trumps doctors due to make a statement about the president s condition shortly after the match from pop contracts its covert 19 the president reassured his well wishes. Very well but were going to make sure they know were here at. The u. S. 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