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City gates of PotsdamPrussia · Potsdam

Potsdam’s three surviving gates span 37 years — its Brandenburg Gate came eighteen years before Berlin’s

Potsdam’s Brandenburger Tor went up in 1770–71, eighteen years before Langhans began Berlin’s in 1788. The Jägertor of 1733 is the oldest of the town’s three surviving gates; the neo-Gothic Nauener Tor followed in 1755.

Scroll along the years

Potsdam’s Brandenburger Tor on the Luisenplatz.Zairon. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

01Two Brandenburg Gates

The Brandenburg Gate everyone knows is the younger one

Friedrich II ordered Potsdam’s gate after the Seven Years’ War, on the model of the Arch of Constantine. It was built in 1770–1771. Carl Gotthard Langhans began Berlin’s in 1788 and finished it in 1791: 18 years later.

1770

Potsdam

A cream-coloured triumphal arch with paired columns and a sculpted attic; a Christmas tree is visible through the central arch.
Potsdam’s Brandenburger Tor, November 2013.Arild Vågen, 2013. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0.

1788

Berlin

An engraving of a wide gate with a row of Doric columns and a four-horse chariot on top, people and carriages in the square.
Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, about 1850: Johann Poppel’s engraving after a photograph by Johannes Rabe.Johann Poppel, engraving after a photograph by Johannes Rabe, c. 1850. Via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

Start of building, Potsdam and Berlin

02One scale

Three gates, 37 years — and Berlin 18 years behind

threesurviving gates
A time line of the eighteenth century. As you read, Potsdam's surviving gates rise at the year each was built, the gaps between them are measured, and Berlin's Brandenburg Gate is added in blue.
A framed painting of a man in a blue coat and yellow breeches riding a black horse across a dark landscape.
Friedrich Wilhelm I, by Dismar Degen, c. 1730.Dismar Degen, 1730. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

1733

1733: the Soldier King’s gate

Friedrich Wilhelm I built the Jägertor in 1733 during the second baroque town extension, as a northern exit in the line of Lindenstraße. It is the oldest of Potsdam’s three surviving gates.

Source: potsdamtourismus.de · de.wikipedia / Architekturführer Potsdam

A painting of a pale gate with a sculpture group on top, flanked by trees; riders, hounds and carriages pass in front of it.
The Jägertor, painted by Dismar Degen, 1735.Dismar Degen, 1735. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

1733 · north

A stag at bay, on a straight beam

It is named for the electoral Jägerhof outside the town. Tuscan piers, straight entablature and a sandstone group of a stag brought to bay by hounds — no arch at all.

Source: de.wikipedia / Architekturführer Potsdam · potsdamtourismus.de

A portrait of an elderly man with powdered grey hair in a dark blue coat with a red collar and a silver star.
Friedrich II, by Anton Graff, 1781.Anton Graff, 1781. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

1754–55

1755: a gate from the king’s own sketch

Johann Gottfried Büring built the Nauener Tor in 1754–1755 after a sketch by Friedrich II: 22 years after the Jägertor.

Source: potsdam.de · Berlinfographics fact-check

A black-and-white photograph of a gate with two tall round crenellated towers with conical roofs, linked to low battlemented wings with pointed arches.
The Nauener Tor, 1928.Bundesarchiv, Bild 170-308 / Max Baur / CC BY-SA 3.0 de

1755 · 1867

Towers and battlements, very early

Two round towers with battlements: it is regarded as the earliest neo-Gothic building in continental Europe. Its pointed-arch passage dates from 1867.

Source: potsdam.de

An unfinished painting: a man on horseback in a tricorn hat addresses a semicircle of officers in a winter landscape.
The Seven Years’ War: Menzel’s Leuthen scene, 1859–61.Adolph von Menzel, 1860. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

1770–71

1770: a triumphal arch after the Seven Years’ War

Friedrich II ordered the Brandenburger Tor after the Seven Years’ War. It went up in 1770–1771, 15 years after the Nauener Tor.

Source: potsdamtourismus.de · de.wikipedia / Architekturführer Potsdam · Berlinfographics fact-check

An old sepia photograph of a Roman triumphal arch with three openings, free-standing columns and reliefs, ruins behind it.
The Arch of Constantine, Rome, c. 1867.Rijksmuseum, 1867. Wikimedia Commons. CC0.

two architects

Two architects, one for each face

Carl von Gontard designed the town side, Georg Christian Unger the field side. The model was the Arch of Constantine in Rome.

Source: potsdamtourismus.de · de.wikipedia / Architekturführer Potsdam

A painted portrait of a middle-aged man with powdered hair and an open-necked shirt, looking to the side.
Carl Gotthard Langhans (portrait detail).Unknown author. Wikimedia Commons. CC0.

1788–91

1788: Berlin begins its gate

Carl Gotthard Langhans began Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate in 1788: 18 years after Potsdam’s.

Source: berlin.de · Berlinfographics fact-check

The richer face of the arch: paired Corinthian columns, garlands and trophies on the attic, a central arch and two side passages.
The field side (Unger), 2013.Avda, 2013. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0.

1733–1770

37 years from first to last

From the Jägertor to the Brandenburger Tor is 37 years; to Berlin’s gate, 55. Potsdam’s arch gained its side passages in 1843.

Source: Berlinfographics fact-check · potsdamtourismus.de

03Where they point

Each gate fronts the road to the place it is named for

Each fronts a road named for the place it pointed to. The Jägertor faces north, named for the electoral Jägerhof outside it, at the end of Lindenstraße. The Nauener Tor is also a northern exit, on the road to Nauen. The Brandenburger Tor led west to Brandenburg.

A stone gateway of two square piers carrying a flat beam, crowned by a sculpture of a stag and hounds between two eagle trophies, on a sunny street.
The Jägertor seen from Lindenstraße, 2017: piers, a straight entablature and, on top, the stag brought to bay by hounds.Klaus Bärwinkel, 2017. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 3.0.

Potsdam’s baroque town today, with its surviving gates

Lindenstraße and JägeralleeFriedrich-Ebert-StraßeBrandenburger Straße and ZeppelinstraßeMap data: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL
A brick church with a tall slender spire with a lantern rises above bare winter trees and a house roof.
Nauen: St. Jacobi, 2008.X-Weinzar, 2008. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.5.
A Gothic brick town hall with a tall stepped tower on a cobbled square, a fir tree and a bare tree in front.
Brandenburg an der Havel: the Old Town Hall, 2014.Gregor Rom, 2014. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

04Gate by gate

A hunting gate, a Gothic gate, a Roman arch

Jägertor

1733

The oldest of the three, built under Friedrich Wilhelm I as a northern exit in the line of Lindenstraße.

  • Built1733, Friedrich Wilhelm I
  • FacesNorth, named for the electoral Jägerhof
  • FormTuscan piers, straight entablature and a sandstone group of a stag brought to bay by hounds
A painting of a pale gate with a sculpture group on top, flanked by trees; riders, hounds and carriages pass in front of it.
Dismar Degen, “Potsdam, Jägertor”, 1735: the new gate with its stag group, a hunting party passing through. The painting hung in the dining hall of the Potsdam palace from 1741.Dismar Degen, 1735. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
A stone gateway of two square piers carrying a flat beam, crowned by a sculpture of a stag and hounds between two eagle trophies, on a sunny street.
The Jägertor from Lindenstraße, 2017.Klaus Bärwinkel, 2017. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 3.0.
The top of a stone gate in warm evening light: a stag beset by hounds in the centre, eagles on trophies at each side.
The Jägertor, 2011.Mister No, 2011. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 3.0.

Nauener Tor

1754–1755

Built by Johann Gottfried Büring after a sketch by Friedrich II, and regarded as the earliest neo-Gothic building in continental Europe.

  • Built1754–1755, Friedrich II
  • ArchitectJohann Gottfried Büring
  • FormTwo round towers with battlements; pointed-arch passage from 1867
  • FacesNorth, on the road to Nauen
A grey gate with two round crenellated towers and pointed-arch wings, tram wires and lamp-posts in front.
The Nauener Tor, 2006, with tram lines running through the square in front.Thorbjoern, 2006. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.5.
A black-and-white photograph of a gate with two tall round crenellated towers with conical roofs, linked to low battlemented wings with pointed arches.
The Nauener Tor, 1928.Bundesarchiv, Bild 170-308 / Max Baur / CC BY-SA 3.0 de
Looking up at two round towers with battlements and pointed caps, a crenellated wall and a pointed arch between them.
The Nauener Tor’s towers and passage.Zairon. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Brandenburger Tor

1770–1771

A Roman triumphal arch on the model of the Arch of Constantine, ordered by Friedrich II after the Seven Years’ War. Two architects gave it two different faces.

  • Built1770–1771, Friedrich II
  • Town sideCarl von Gontard
  • Field sideGeorg Christian Unger
  • ModelThe Arch of Constantine
  • Side passages1843
  • FacesWest, towards Brandenburg
The plainer face of the arch: pilasters, two medallion panels and a central arch flanked by two small passages.
The town side (Gontard), 2005.Bruhaha (de.wikipedia), 2005. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0.
The richer face of the arch: paired Corinthian columns, garlands and trophies on the attic, a central arch and two side passages.
The field side (Unger), 2013.Avda, 2013. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0.
An old sepia photograph of a Roman triumphal arch with three openings, free-standing columns and reliefs, ruins behind it.
The Arch of Constantine in Rome, seen from the Colosseum: a photograph of about 1867 in the Rijksmuseum.Rijksmuseum, 1867. Wikimedia Commons. CC0.

The architects

Four architects stand behind these gates. Johann Gottfried Büring built the Nauener Tor; Carl von Gontard and Georg Christian Unger shared the Brandenburger Tor; Carl Gotthard Langhans built Berlin’s. No source checked names an architect for the Jägertor. Shown here are what survives of three of them: a portrait, a tower and a drawing.

A tall domed tower with a gilded figure on top rises behind a columned portico with statues, under a grey sky.
Gontard’s tower, Französischer Dom, Berlin, 2018.Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 2018. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.0.

Carl von Gontard

town side of the Brandenburger Tor

An architectural elevation of a temple-fronted facade with a pediment, statues on the roof and two rows of arched windows between columns.
Unger’s design for the French Comedy House, Berlin, c. 1774.Georg Christian Unger, 1774. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Georg Christian Unger

field side of the Brandenburger Tor

A painted portrait of a middle-aged man with powdered hair and an open-necked shirt, looking to the side.
Carl Gotthard Langhans (portrait detail).Unknown author. Wikimedia Commons. CC0.

Carl Gotthard Langhans

Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate

Potsdam · 1733–1771

Berlin’s gate became the symbol. Potsdam’s was there first.

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Berlinfographics (2026). “City Gates of Potsdam”. Berlin Experiences. https://berlinfographics.com/potsdam-city-gates/

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{{cite web |title=City Gates of Potsdam |url=https://berlinfographics.com/potsdam-city-gates/ |website=Berlinfographics |publisher=Berlin Experiences |date=2026-11-05 |access-date=2026-11-05}}