Kaiserbahnhof

Kaiserbahnhof stands near the New Palace in Potsdam, within the Sanssouci Park landscape and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sandstone walls give the building the appearance of an English country villa. Ernst Eberhard von Ihne designed it between 1905 and 1909 for Kaiser Wilhelm II, whose private railway guests included Theodore Roosevelt and Tsar Nicholas II. A separate reception building and platform hall meet through a central staircase reserved for the Kaiser.

The wider Potsdam Park Sanssouci station began in 1868 on the Berlin to Magdeburg railway line. During the Second World War, the Luftwaffe used the building and Hermann Göring’s special train operated from here. Afterward, the Soviet military command made it the terminus of the Blue Express, before the East German railway took over in 1952. Restoration followed closure in 1977, and Deutsche Bahn now uses the premises for executive training, so public access remains limited.

Inside, the Kaisersaal preserves a fireplace, wood panelling and wooden floors linked to Cecilienhof Palace. The smaller Bürgerbahnhof adds a rare survivor of 1860s railway architecture beside the grander imperial rooms.