Reopening of the hotel at Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam planned

It is an important place in world history - after around three years of renovation, hotel guests will once again be able to stay at Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam. The Allies discussed the post-war order at the location in the New Garden in the summer of 1945. An operator of the hotel, which was closed years ago, is also to be determined: the company Arcona Hotels & Resorts, which is in financial difficulties. "Despite the current insolvency proceedings, we are planning to operate Cecilienhof Palace for part of our group from 2027," said a spokesperson for the company in Rostock on Wednesday in response to an inquiry.

As announced by the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg (SPSG), the renovation of the hotel areas and visitor reception in the palace will begin in November this year. It is expected that museum visits will no longer be possible until fall 2027, but the surroundings in the New Garden will remain accessible.

According to the SPSG, the construction project will cost around 22.6 million euros. The money comes from a special investment program for the Prussian palaces and gardens, which the federal government and the states of Brandenburg and Berlin have set up until 2030. This is intended to save important monuments in the Berlin and Potsdam palace landscape from decay. The foundation is renovating other historical buildings with the help of the special program, which comprises a total of 400 million euros until 2030: the Orangery Palace in Sanssouci Park and the Small Palace in Babelsberg Park.

The construction work at Cecilienhof Palace is also intended to reactivate part of the building that is still unused, it was reported. The museum will be expanded to include additional exhibition space. For the hotel, 38 rooms and suites are to be renovated and a restaurant open to the public is also planned. "We will be looking closely at the new concept for Cecilienhof Palace over the next few years," said a spokesperson for the planned hotel operator.

The building complex in today's World Heritage Site has also housed a hotel since the 1960s, which, according to the SPSG, accommodated guests until 2014. According to the foundation, the facades and roofs of the palace had already been renovated between 2014 and 2017.

Cecilienhof was built between 1913 and 1917 by Kaiser Wilhelm II for his son Crown Prince Wilhelm and his wife, Crown Princess Cecilie. After the Second World War, the Allies discussed the new world order here and signed the Potsdam Agreement. Soviet head of state Josef Stalin spoke with US President Harry S. Truman and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the wood-panelled conference hall of the building.