The park was first designed by the landscape artist Peter Joseph Lenné and, after him, by Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau and Karl Friedrich Schinkel,[1] by order of the then-prince William I and his wife, Augusta.

In 1833 the thrifty King Frederick William III of Prussia gave his second son permission to lay out a garden and that same year Karl Friedrich Schinkel was given the contract to design a palace.

In the pleasure ground below the palace, started by his predecessor, curved promenade paths were laid out and the flower beds were decorated with borders of coloured pottery.

Lenné had planted large individual trees, but Pückler-Muskau placed younger ones close together, which encouraged one another to grow in height and improved the soil with their fallen leaves.

An observation point was established on the hill (Rondell, Fächeraussicht) with visual axes typical of Lenné's work, leading to the lakes of Jungfernsee, Weißer See, Krampnitzer See and Griebnitzsee.

Near the highest point is the semi-circular Loggia Alexandra, open to Babelsberg Park, which Prince Charles had built in 1869 in memory of his dead sister.

From 1945 onwards large areas along the banks of the Havel River were utilised as beaches and for the establishment of the Karl Liebknecht District Maritime Training Centre (Bezirksausbildungszentrum für maritime Ausbildung "Karl Liebknecht") and the Organisation for Sport and Technology (Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik or GST).

Apart from the Neogothic palace, other buildings, viewing points, rest areas with symbolic character and garden architecture have been created over the years.