I came upon a video from The Aesthetic City about the history, and more especially the destruction and then the recent, and continuing, rebuilding of Potsdam.
The video likens the city to Versailles, but I think it could also be seen in many ways as the Prussian equivalent of Windsor, or of other continental royal sites as Drottningholm or Aranjuez.
This is the type of film, and more importantly the type of project, that, as I have written before, I find deeply emotional. Videos about the work to rebuild the north-west tower of St Denis, about the restoration of Wentworth Woodhouse, or the rebuilding of the Frauenkirke in Dresden and of the Royal Schloss in Berlin bring a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat. So to did this. All are a triumph of counter-culturalism. Destroyig Potsdam so very late in the war in April 1945 surely served no military purpose and the actions of the DDR seeking to eradicate the history of Prussia was an early example of “woke”. To such forces of blind destruction undone is miraculous to me, and is, I hope, to all right thinking people.
The video also seeks to draw general lessons about how to create the right cultural climate in which to achieve such remarkable results that can be applied in other historic towns and cities. The same principles can be used in new developments such as Poundbury.
Amongst the interviews I especially liked the lady who as a local resident had been a leading voice and campaigner to get the rebuilding underway and then carried forward. We need more ladies like that in every country.
The video can be seen at They Rebuilt Germany's Versailles And It's GLORIOUS
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