Alexandrowka, Russian architectural ensemble in Potsdam, Germany
Alexandrowka is a Russian settlement in northern Potsdam with thirteen wooden houses, all built with carved decorations and raised foundations in traditional style. The houses surround a Russian Orthodox chapel and sit within well-kept gardens that preserve a self-contained village character.
Frederick William III of Prussia had the settlement built between 1826 and 1827 to house Russian singers from the First Prussian Regiment of the Guards. The choristers originally came from Russian prisoners of war and later served at the Prussian court.
The name honors Tsar Alexander I, who died in 1825, and many residents still maintain Russian traditions in their gardens today. The wooden houses stand in an X-shaped layout with the Alexander Nevsky Chapel at the center, giving visitors a sense of Russian rural settlement patterns.
The houses are privately owned and can only be viewed from outside, while House Number 2 is open to the public as a museum. The gardens and paths are freely accessible and suitable for a quiet walk through the neighborhood.
Each original resident received a furnished house and a cow, and property ownership could only pass to male descendants of the singers. This inheritance rule lasted until 1918 and bound families to the place across generations.
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