Alexandrowka

The Russian Colony Alexandrowka sits in northern Potsdam and stands as one of the most unusual settlement ensembles of early 19th-century Europe. King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia commissioned it in 1826 for the twelve surviving members of a Russian soldiers' choir he had brought to Prussia during the Napoleonic Wars — the original group of 62 had dwindled through battle and longing for home. The thirteen log-built houses, decorated with intricate carved woodwork, are arranged along a Russian village layout and framed by orchards and sight lines leading to the Alexander Nevsky Memorial Church on the hill above. Alexandrowka has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage ensemble of Potsdam's palaces and gardens since 1999. The colony remains inhabited today; several houses survive in near-original condition, and a museum house documents the lives of its Russian choir community.