About this place
The Friedenskirche rises at the edge of the Marly Garden like a fragment of early Christian Rome transplanted to Brandenburg. Frederick William IV, the art loving Romantic on the throne, commissioned it from Ludwig Persius in 1845 with two instructions: follow the basilica of San Clemente in Rome and build it around the early 13th-century apse mosaic he had bought from the doomed church of San Cipriano on Murano in 1834. After Persius died that same year, Friedrich August Stüler completed the ensemble, consecrated in 1848 and finished in 1854, with its 42 meter campanile, arcaded atrium and cloister gardens. Inside, Christ enthroned in gold gazes down the nave, while the king and Queen Elisabeth lie beneath the altar. The adjoining domed Kaiser Friedrich Mausoleum of 1890 holds Emperor Frederick III, who ruled for only 99 days, and his wife Victoria, daughter of Queen Victoria. The church remains an active parish and is free to enter.
Key facts
- 42 meters — Height of the free standing campanile reflected in the pond
- 1834 year — Crown prince Frederick William bought the Murano apse mosaic before any church existed to hold it
- 99 days — Reign of Emperor Frederick III, who rests in the mausoleum beside the church
📍 Am Grünen Gitter 2, 14469, Potsdam