Karl Friedrich Schinkel designed the Classicist, centrally planned St. Nicholas Church on Potsdam's Alter Markt, which was built from 1830 to 1837. Ludwig Persius, and from 1845 Friedrich August Stüler, added the tambour that carries the dome from 1843 to 1850. The church is about 253 feet (77 meters) tall.
It replaced a Baroque church built from 1721 to 1724 by Philipp Gerlach, which burned down in 1795 when a soldering torch was carelessly used during tower repairs. Frederick the Great had added a facade modeled on Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, completed between 1752 and 1755, but it was demolished in 1811.
Near the end of the Second World War, a British air raid and Soviet artillery badly damaged the church. It was reconsecrated in 1981 and now hosts services and concerts.
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