Babelsberg Hill

Brandenburg · Germany · Natural site

Why does Babelsberg have two crests? The Potsdam legend answers with a wicked knight, helpful dwarves beneath the hill, and brave Mechtel fleeing with her child.

Long before film studios and imperial palaces claimed the hill by the Havel, the folk around Potsdam said that something was not right with Babelsberg. According to the legend, recorded in Potsdam's saga collections, a wicked knight once ruled here whose cruelty drove the local people to despair, while a hidden little folk – dwarves with a prince of their own – lived inside the hill itself. When brave Mechtel fled from the knight with her child, it was the hill's hidden inhabitants who intervened, and the struggle between evil and good is said to explain the hill's peculiar shape: that is why Babelsberg has two crests to this day. Anyone walking Park Babelsberg at dusk, where the neo-Gothic towers of Schloss Babelsberg rise out of the woods, understands why this hill of all hills earned such a reputation – the old mountain still feels inhabited.

FAQ

Where is Babelsberg Hill located?

Babelsberg Hill is in Brandenburg, Germany.

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• The Kindel Woods near Schildow Brandenburg · Forest
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Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.

Image: Philipp Schiefelbein · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons