Heilandskirche Sacrow

The Heilandskirche at Sacrow is one of the most beautiful and historically resonant churches in the Potsdam area — an Italianate lakeside church with a separate campanile, designed by Ludwig Persius in 1844 and set directly on the shore of the Havel north of Potsdam. The church and its colonnaded portico are reflected in the water, and the approach by boat (from the Havel or from Potsdam) is the most atmospheric way to arrive.

The church became famous in a dark way during the Cold War, when the Berlin Wall was built along the Havel shoreline and the Heilandskirche was sealed inside the restricted border zone. It was reopened after reunification and fully restored, and is now a popular destination for cyclists and boaters exploring the Havel lakes. The surrounding park is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Potsdam landscape. Sacrow is about 8 kilometres north of Potsdam city centre, reachable by bike along the Havel path.

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A story
During the Cold War, the Heilandskirche sat directly on the Berlin Wall — its lakeside position put it in the Death Strip between East and West. The church was closed to worshippers from 1961 to 1990, its interior used for storage. The Wall ran along the shoreline; the church's reflection in the Havel was visible from West Berlin but unreachable. It was one of the strangest and most poignant Cold War anomalies in the Potsdam landscape.

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