Schwielowsee () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

Potsdam-Mittelmark Potsdam-Mittelmark is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the western part of Brandenburg, Germany. Its neighbouring administrative units are (clockwise from the north) the district of Havelland, the free cities of Brandenburg and Potsdam, the state of Berl ...

district, in

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is situated on the shore of the

Schwielowsee Schwielowsee () is a lake in the state of Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated to the south and west of the city of Potsdam. The villages of Caputh, Ferch and Geltow, on the banks of the lake, form the municipality of Schwielowsee. The lake i ...

lake, through which the River Havel flows. The municipality was founded on December 31, 2002 in merger of the three villages Caputh,

Geltow Schwielowsee () is a municipality in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the shore of the Schwielowsee lake, through which the River Havel flows. The municipality was founded on December 31, 2002 in merge ...

and Ferch. The

Caputh Ferry The Caputh Ferry is a vehicular cable ferry in the municipality of Schwielowsee of the state of Brandenburg, Germany. It crosses the River Havel at its outlet from the Templiner See to the Schwielowsee, and crosses between the villages of Caput ...

, a

cable ferry A cable ferry (including the terms chain ferry, swing ferry, floating bridge, or punt) is a ferry that is guided (and in many cases propelled) across a river or large body of water by cables connected to both shores. Early cable ferries often ...

across the Havel, links Caputh and Geltow. In the east Schwielowsee shares border with the City of

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

, in the west with the town of

Werder (Havel) Werder (Havel) (official name derived from ''Werder an der Havel'' ("Werder upon Havel"), colloquially just ''Werder'') is a town in the state of Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Havel river in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, west of the sta ...

History

Geltow (together with Potsdam) was first mentioned as Slavic ''Geliti'' within the

Hevelli The Hevelli or Hevellians/ Navellasîni (sometimes ''Havolane''; german: Heveller or ''Stodoranen''; pl, Hawelanie or ''Stodoranie''; cs, Havolané or ''Stodorané'') were a tribe of the Polabian Slavs, who settled around the middle Havel river ...

lands in a 993 deed by

Emperor Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was crowned as King of G ...

, who ceded it to his aunt, abbess Matilda of

Quedlinburg Quedlinburg () is a town situated just north of the Harz mountains, in the district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. As an influential and prosperous trading centre during the early Middle Ages, Quedlinburg became a center of in ...

. The

ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

in the Havel had been a significant river-crossing since ancient times. Today the ''

Bundesstraße 1 The Bundesstraße 1 (abbr. B1) is a German federal highway running in an east-west direction from the Netherlands, Dutch border near Aachen to the Poland, Polish border at Küstrin-Kietz on the Oder River. History The road developed from an anc ...

'' federal highway crosses the river at the ''Baumgartenbrücke''. File:Baumgartenbrücke03.jpg, Semi-provisional Baumgarten-brücke from 1950 in 1985 File:Baumgartenbrücke 1989.jpg, Current Baumgartenbrücke, since 1989

Demography

File:Bevölkerungsentwicklung Schwielowsee.pdf, Development of population since 1875 within the current Boundaries (Blue Line: Population; Dotted Line: Comparison to Population development in Brandenburg state; Grey Background: Time of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

; Red Background: Time of communist

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

) File:Bevölkerungsprognosen Schwielowsee.pdf, Recent Population Development and Projections (Population Development before Census 2011 (blue line); Recent Population Development according to the

Census in Germany A national census in Germany (german: Volkszählung) was held every five years from 1875 to 1910. After the World Wars, only a few full population censuses have been held, the last in 1987. The most recent census, though not a national census, wa ...

in 2011 (blue bordered line); Official projections for 2005-2030 (yellow line); for 2017-2030 (scarlet line);; for 2020-2030 (green line)

Sights

Caputh

Caputh got a railway station in 1904. Since early 20th century it was appraised as a remote residencial area by wealthy urban people. * Caputh Palace, built in 1662 by Philip de Chiese, quartermaster general of Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg. In 1671 Frederick William gave the palace to his second wife Dorothea of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. Notable is the Tile Hall (''Fliesensaal'') of 1720 with about 7,500 pieces of

Delftware Delftware or Delft pottery, also known as Delft Blue ( nl, Delfts blauw) or as delf, is a general term now used for Dutch tin-glazed earthenware, a form of faience. Most of it is blue and white pottery, and the city of Delft in the Netherland ...

tiles, placed by order of King

Frederick William I of Prussia Frederick William I (german: Friedrich Wilhelm I.; 14 August 1688 – 31 May 1740), known as the "Soldier King" (german: Soldatenkönig), was King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death in 1740, as well as Prince of Neuch ...

. The park was designed by

Peter Joseph Lenné Peter Joseph Lenné (the Younger) (29 September 1789 – 23 January 1866) was a Prussian gardener and landscape architect. As director general of the Royal Prussian palaces and parks in Potsdam and Berlin, his work shaped the development of 19 ...

in 1820. * The Caputh village church is a work by

Friedrich August Stüler Friedrich August Stüler (28 January 1800 – 18 March 1865) was an influential Prussian architect and builder. His masterpiece is the Neues Museum in Berlin, as well as the dome of the triumphal arch of the main portal of the Berliner Schloss. ...

. Built in a

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

form, it was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

in 1852 in the presence of King

Frederick William IV of Prussia Frederick William IV (german: Friedrich Wilhelm IV.; 15 October 17952 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, reigned as King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 to his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to ...

* Summer house of

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

in Caputh, built in 1929 by the architect

Konrad Wachsmann Konrad Wachsmann (May 16, 1901 in Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany – November 25, 1980 in Los Angeles, California) was a German modernist architect. He is notable for his contribution to the mass production of building components. Originally appre ...

. Einstein, though a non swimmer, was a passionate recreational

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

on the lake, but was only able to use his retreat until the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

takeover in 1933. After

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

and the

restitution The law of restitution is the law of gains-based recovery, in which a court orders the defendant to ''give up'' their gains to the claimant. It should be contrasted with the law of compensation, the law of loss-based recovery, in which a court o ...

to the Einstein family, the house is now a property of the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

Geltow

Geltow was always passed by a lot of strangers on the main road. Like Caputh it has a railway station since 1904. The village church of Geltow was built according to plans of the unlucky Emperor Frederick III after the model of the church of

Terlan Terlan (; it, Terlano ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in South Tyrol in northern Italy. Geography The municipal area is situated within the Adige Valley, about northwest of the city of Bolzano. Terlan is famous for its wine and asparagus produ ...

o in

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

, with glazed roof tiles and a

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

outside the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

. It was consecrated in 1887. Friedrich's last visit on June 6, 1888 was perpetuated by

Theodor Fontane Theodor Fontane (; 30 December 1819 – 20 September 1898) was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist author. He published the first of his novels, for which he is best known toda ...

in his poem ''Kaiser Friedrich III. Letzte Fahrt''. Caputh and Geltow are connected by one of the busiest ferries of river Havel and by a railway bridge with a sidewalk, Schwielowsee-Ferch-Kirche-05

Ferch

The fishermen's village of Ferch on the southwestern end of lake Schwielowsee kept its rural character into the late 20th century. A colony of painters also settled there. * The village church of Ferch was built in 1635. Galleries allow assemblies of a numerous congregation in the small building. The wooden barrel-vault has the structure of a boat. File:Ferch_church.jpg, Fishermen's church File:Ferch_steeple.jpg, Steeple File:Ferch_Schulhaus.jpg, Former school building File:Ferch_Burg.jpg, "Castle Ferch"

References

{{Authority control Localities in Potsdam-Mittelmark