Alexandrowka Potsdam

One of Potsdam's most unusual neighbourhoods, Alexandrowka is a Russian colony that was a gift from Friedrich Wilhelm III to his close friend Tsar Alexander in 1820. The first residents were the singers of a Russian military choir who had much delighted the king. Descendants of the original settlers still live in the chalet-like wooden houses surrounded by gardens and orchards. Learn more at the pretty little museum with nearby garden cafe. Karl Friedrich Schinkel designed the Russian Orthodox church, called Alexander-Newski-Gedächtniskirche, just north of the colony.