
Dutch Quarter
Ensemble of red-brick, Dutch-gabled houses built to lure Netherlands craftsmen to a Prussian garrison town.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Dutch Quarter in Potsdam, near Berlin, follows Jan Bouman, an Amsterdam-trained shipbuilder recruited in the 1730s by King Frederick William I to bring Dutch craftsmen to his garrison town. It traces the roughly one hundred thirty red-brick, gabled houses Bouman designed, and the king's recruitment drive that mostly fizzled, leaving the quarter filled with local families instead. Walk the four blocks slowly and look up at the stepped, curved gables above the shopfronts.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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