Friendship Island

Friendship Island
Waters	Havel
Geographical location	52 ° 23 '42 " N , 13 ° 3' 53" E Coordinates: 52 ° 23 '42 " N , 13 ° 3' 53" E
length	690 m
width	140 m
surface	6.5 ha

The Friendship Island is located in the center of Potsdam between two arms of the Havel , the Alte and Neue Fahrt . On the banks of the river are now the Old Market with the Nikolaikirche , the Potsdam City Palace and the Barberini Museum as well as the Potsdam Central Station .

On the western side of the island, the Lange Brücke crosses the Havel, which provides access to the city center and the train station. Another bridge, only accessible to pedestrians, allows a crossing over the Alte Fahrt at the height of today's Burgstrasse.

The Friendship Island owes its name to an inn on the island for 150 years. The island is best known for the show and teaching gardens laid out by Karl Foerster and Hermann Mattern between 1937 and 1940. This Mattern and Foerster facility was largely destroyed in World War II. In the 1950s, Walter Funcke added a water axis with fountains, plant basins as well as swamp and bank zones, which continued Mattern's design concept. At the beginning of the 1970s, further design measures followed by Funcke and Göritz.

The south-western tip of the Friendship Island was excavated after the main landing stage for the excursion boats of the Weisse Flotte Potsdam was relocated from the opposite side of the Havel to the bank next to the hotel due to the construction of the Interhotel in 1969 , and turning options had to be created for the ships moored there. On the occasion of the Federal Garden Show 2001 , the gardens were extensively restored and the other parts of the Friendship Island were redesigned. On the island there is an open-air stage, a playground, a sun café and an exhibition pavilion. Today the garden landscape combines more than 1000 different types of perennial and over 250 varieties of irises in a water garden. The 6.5 hectare facility has had the status of an area monument since 1977.

During the summer months, a boat rental opens at the Alte Fahrt.

Sculptures on Friendship Island
In the middle of the Friendship Island is the metal sculpture in honor of Karl Foerster with the inscription "Whoever wants to realize dreams must be more alert and dream more deeply than others"
Inge von Walter Arnold , 1949
Pelicans by Hans Klakow , 1956
Children drawing by Hans Klakow , 1963
Miracle 1 by Rainer Fürstenberg
Lovers under the umbrella of Jürgen von Woyski , 1962
Dancing couple by Ingeborg Hunzinger , 1962