Ratswaage

The Ratswaage occupies the Neuen Markt in Potsdam, and for most of its life it did one thing: it weighed. Built in the eighteenth century as a weighing house, it compared loaded wagons against empty ones. That difference fixed the weight of farm produce and textiles, the goods that trade ran on. The state controlled the whole process, and the fees went to the royal orphanage.

In 1836 the whole operation moved from the old market to this square, into a new building by Christian Heinrich Ziller. A rebuild between 1875 and 1877 added the weighmaster's residence and moved the weighing plate outside. An underground mechanism linked the plate to the machinery inside. The last scale here came from the DDR era, carried twenty tons and kept working into the 1970s.

After reunification the weighing gave way to cooking. The building now houses the Restaurant Waage, where you can still see the old apparatus. Next door, in the corner building at Neuen Markt 10, the Kochzimmer cooks New Prussian Cuisine from local produce. The kitchen holds a Michelin star and serves a six-course set menu, with a vegetarian alternative. Inside, silver-grey walls, 1950s chandeliers and burnt orange designer chairs define the room. In summer a few tables move out into the courtyard, where seats are limited.