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Since 1751, the Potsdam City Palace was the official winter residence of the Prussian Kings, and, starting in 1871, the German Emperors (Kaiser), making it Potsdam's oldest castle. Unfortunately, there is not much left of it. The castle was severely damaged during a bombing raid at the end of World War II and was eventually demolished in 1959.
It was believed that only a group of columns (later placed near the Neptune Fountain had survived the demolition. But a number of people kept pieces of the rubble (mostly as trophies in their front yards). In 2007, city and state decided to rebuild the castle and appealed to the citizen to return surviving pieces. Amazingly, among the returned remains were almost all the pieces of one of the castles gates and a large sculpture group.
These pieces were put on display at the original site, to raise awareness and also to raise money for the reconstruction. Our 2007 pictures document that display.
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