Cecilienhof Palace

Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam is where the Allied leaders met in the summer of 1945 to decide the fate of postwar Germany. Built as the last palace of the Hohenzollern dynasty, it looks more like an English country manor than a royal residence, and it stands in the New Garden on the shore of the Jungfernsee lake. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Before you go, note that the interior is currently closed for a major renovation.

Current status: closed for renovation

The Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation (SPSG), which runs the site, closed Cecilienhof in November 2024. Its website says the palace is closed "until further notice" and gives no reopening date. Press reports from 2024 expected museum visits to remain impossible until about fall 2027.

The project covers the former hotel wing and the visitor reception. Plans include a larger entrance area, a public restaurant, an elevator for step-free access and more exhibition space. While the work continues:

• The surrounding New Garden (Neuer Garten) stays open, so you can still walk around the grounds.
• The SPSG offers free virtual tours of the historic rooms on Google Arts & Culture.

Why it matters: the Potsdam Conference

Emperor Wilhelm II commissioned the house for his eldest son, Crown Prince Wilhelm, and his wife Cecilie. It went up between 1913 and 1917, designed by Paul Schultze-Naumburg in the Tudor style, with half-timbering and decorative brick chimneys. Its 176 rooms are arranged around five courtyards. The family lived here until they fled in 1945.

From July 17 to August 2, 1945, Cecilienhof hosted the Potsdam Conference. Harry S. Truman, Winston Churchill (replaced midway by Clement Attlee after the British election) and Joseph Stalin negotiated Germany's demilitarization, reparations and new borders. The resulting Potsdam Agreement shaped Europe for decades. Highlights inside, once the museum reopens, include the conference hall with its large round table, the delegations' studies and the private rooms of the crown prince couple. In the main courtyard, a five-pointed red star of flowers, first planted for the conference, is still maintained today.

The palace became part of the UNESCO site "Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin" in 1990 and received the European Heritage Label in 2011.

Things to do in the New Garden

Even with the palace closed, a visit can be worth it if you are already in Potsdam. King Frederick William II had the New Garden laid out from 1787 as a landscape park between two lakes. Allow about 1.5 to 2 hours for a loop that takes in:

• the exterior of Cecilienhof and its lakeside facade,
• the neoclassical Marble Palace on the Heiliger See,
• the Meierei, a former dairy that is now a brewpub by the water.

How to get to Cecilienhof

Potsdam lies just southwest of Berlin. Regional trains and the S-Bahn run from central Berlin to Potsdam Hauptbahnhof in roughly half an hour, so it is an easy day trip from Berlin; the Deutschlandticket and Berlin ABC tickets are valid. From Potsdam, bus line 603 stops at "Schloss Cecilienhof"; from the main station you will usually combine a tram and the bus, so check the VBB journey planner. The address is Im Neuen Garten 11, 14469 Potsdam. Drivers will find paid parking nearby, limited to cars during construction.

Is it worth visiting right now?

If you are a history buff hoping to stand in the conference hall, wait for the reopening and check the SPSG website before you plan. If you enjoy parks, lakes and architecture, the New Garden is a peaceful half-day, and you can combine it with Potsdam's Dutch Quarter, Sanssouci Palace and the New Palace. Prices are in euros; admission fees for the reopened museum have not yet been announced (as of October 2026).