Ringerkolonnade

Ringerkolonnade stands in Potsdam as a historic colonnade beside the Lustgarten, linking the City Palace with the Marstall. Sandstone wrestlers fill the spaces between its columns. Built in the 1840s under Frederick II, the structure followed designs by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff. Friedrich Christian Glume, Johann August Nahl and Georg Franz Ebenhecht created the sculptures.

The Second World War left much of Potsdam’s centre destroyed, while this colonnade survived largely intact. After the war, changed traffic routes and the City Palace’s demolition ended its original function. During the 1970s, about half of the structure moved behind the Neptune Basin near the harbour. Deterioration later required a thorough conservation project, which dismantled, restored and preserved its individual elements. By spring 2016, original parts and new components had brought the colonnade back to its historic location, adapted for modern infrastructure.

The sandstone figures remain the clearest detail, with wrestlers standing between the pale columns. Their presence connects Potsdam’s present streetscape with the architecture of the Lustgarten and its former royal surroundings.