The temple on the southern slope of Potsdam's Pfingstberg hill was Karl Friedrich Schinkel's first independent building. In 1800, the 19-year-old was commissioned to build a tea pavilion in the vineyard of the wife of the court councilor Carl Ludwig von Oesfeld. The new building was to replace an older, somewhat lower pavilion, which was also already named after the Roman goddess Pomona.

From the hill there was a beautiful view of Potsdam. Schinkel designed a small square building in the shape of a Greek temple. The portico with its four Ionic columns is a quotation of the north porch of the Erechtheion on the Acropolis.

An observation terrace on the roof is accessible via a stair tower. It probably did not receive its sun awning until 1817, when Frederick William III acquired the site. in 1862, Peter Joseph Lenné designed the gardens on Pfingstberg and connected the small temple with the much larger Belvedere by a linden arcade.

After the Second World War, the temple fell into disrepair down to its foundation walls; in 1992/93 it was reconstructed with the help of a donation. The Förderverein Pfingstberg in Potsdam e.V. shows exhibitions inside and organizes readings and concerts on the roof terrace in summer.