Schwielowsee: Art, History and Water

In Schwielowsee, Geltow, Ferch and Caputh each offer distinct cultural highlights. Historic crafts, landscape painting, architectural history and water-based activities provide different points of interest for your stay. When planning, you can consider which topics interest you most and what you would like to focus on.

Crafts and Landscape Painting

At the Active Museum of Hand Weaving Henni-Jaensch-Zeymer in Geltow, historic weaving techniques are demonstrated on looms that are more than 200 years old. Both the old looms and the techniques are at the heart of the exhibition. For anyone interested in crafts, this place offers a tangible insight into the history of weaving.

Ferch offers a different focus: the Museum of the Havelländische Malerkolonie is dedicated to the artists’ landscape around Schwielowsee and to researching and documenting it. The art trail in Ferch passes motifs from well-known landscape paintings and brings traces of regional painters to life. The museum and the art trail thus explore related topics in different ways: the museum focuses on the artists’ landscape, while the trail follows its motifs and traces.

Castle History and Local Culture

Caputh Palace and Park comprise a country palace with early Baroque ceiling decorations featuring paintings and stucco work. Another historic landmark in Caputh is the summer house built by Konrad Wachsmann. Albert Einstein lived there with his family from 1929 to 1932. The two sites therefore represent different historical focuses: the design of the country palace and a clearly defined period of Einstein’s life in Caputh.

In Ferch, the Fishermen’s Church brings together architectural style and local history. Built in the 17th century, this half-timbered church bears witness to the local history of fishing and shipping. Together with the museum and the art trail, it offers another way to explore the history and culture of the town, though these sites do not all tell the same story: here, half-timbering and the history of fishing and shipping shape the perspective.

Concerts and Audience Participation

The Caputher Musiken, established in 1995, put on around twelve concerts a year in Caputh. At the Fercher ObstkistenBühne, four musicians and writers put together concert programmes from May to December, either beneath a hundred-year-old lime tree illuminated by spotlights or beside a fieldstone fireplace. At events, guests can sing along and clap out the rhythm with traditional Brandenburg wooden clogs on their hands. This gives audiences an explicit opportunity to take part in the concert programmes. If you are planning to attend a performance, check the current programme in advance.

Waterways and Leisure Activities

Schwielowsee is part of the Potsdam and Brandenburg Havel Lakes water sports area. The range of leisure activities includes houseboat and canoe trips, swimming, fishing and passenger boat cruises. This means there are options both for boat-based outings and for other water-related activities. Which one suits your plans depends on whether you would like to focus on a boat trip, an excursion or other leisure activities.

The Caputh cable ferry, also known as Tussy II, connects Caputh and Geltow by water. The Weisse Flotte offers round trips and excursions on the Havel Lakes from March to October. Landing stages are located in Caputh at the palace and at the Gemünde, in Ferch at the Haus am See and at the Bootsklause or lido, and in Geltow at the Baumgarten Bridge. Check the current timetable if you are planning a trip.

Consider which topics you would like to combine, and use them to guide your search for a hotel in Schwielowsee.

Discover more destinations: Petzow, Michendorf, Päwesin, Borkheide, Potsdam, Beetzsee, Wilhelmshorst, Niemegk.

For the overview of the wider region: Potsdam-Mittelmark.