# Großes Militär-Waisenhaus

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Canonical page: https://mytuur.com/en/city/potsdam/spot/grosses-militaer-waisenhaus/

Content updated: 2026-06-22

The Großes Militär-Waisenhaus in Potsdam is a baroque building complex with a long history of education and institutional change. King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia founded it in 1724. The institution taught Christianity, reading, writing and arithmetic while preparing pupils for future work. Girls joined the original boys’ institution in 1725. The main building carries a golden figure of Caritas, giving the baroque complex a distinctive Potsdam landmark. Strict military discipline shaped the institution’s daily life. Boys learned crafts after school, while girls received instruction in domestic skills and household work. The Potsdam complex changed uses across the twentieth century. It became a children’s home, an office building and a boarding school during the German Democratic Republic. War damage later led to a simplified restoration of the complex. A 1992 decision restored the foundation’s formal continuity from the institution’s founding in 1724. The foundation supports youth projects in Potsdam and Brandenburg. Its programmes address education, care and vocational training, with particular attention to disadvantaged children and young people. The work encourages responsible, tolerant young people.

- City: [Potsdam](https://mytuur.com/en/city/potsdam/)

## Photos

- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_GroesMilitrWaisenhaus_67e64a028b0b76b3444b0af5_0.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Bundesarchiv_Bild_170-414,_Potsdam,_zerstörte_Kuppel_des_Militärwaisenhaus.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_GroesMilitrWaisenhaus_67e64a028b0b76b3444b0af5_1.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:MilitWh.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_GroesMilitrWaisenhaus_67e64a028b0b76b3444b0af5_2.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:GrMilitärwaisenhaus.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_GroesMilitrWaisenhaus_67e64a028b0b76b3444b0af5_3.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Großes_Militärwaisenhaus_Potsdam,_Eingangsbereich.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_GroesMilitrWaisenhaus_67e64a028b0b76b3444b0af5_4.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Großes_Militärwaisenhaus_Potsdam,_Eingangshalle,_im_September_2007.jpg)

Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Potsdam. In the app, each story begins where you stand: walk up to a spot and it starts, read it on screen or listen as you go, then follow the route to the next one.

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