Theme Week Potsdam – Sanssouci Palace
Saturday, 22 November 2014 - 01:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union General , Berlin , Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks , UNESCO World Heritage
Reading Time: 8 minutes
Sanssouci – Aerial view © Sven Scharr/cc-by-3.0
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Sanssouci is the former summer palace of
Frederick the Great , King of Prussia, in
Potsdam , near
Berlin . It is often counted among the German rivals of
Versailles . While Sanssouci is in the more intimate
Rococo style and is far smaller than its
French Baroque counterpart, it too is notable for the numerous temples and follies in the park. The palace was designed/built by
Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff between 1745 and 1747 to fulfill King Frederick’s need for a private residence where he could relax away from the pomp and ceremony of the Berlin court. The palace’s name emphasises this; it is a French phrase (sans souci), which translates as “without concerns”, meaning “without worries” or “carefree”, symbolising that the palace was a place for relaxation rather than a seat of power.
Sanssouci is little more than a large, single-story villa—more like the Château de Marly than Versailles . Containing just ten principal rooms, it was built on the brow of a terraced hill at the centre of the park. The influence of King Frederick’s personal taste in the design and decoration of the palace was so great that its style is characterised as Frederician Rococo , and his feelings for the palace were so strong that he conceived it as “a place that would die with him”. Because of a disagreement about the site of the palace in the park, Knobelsdorff was fired in 1746. Jan Bouman , a Dutch architect, finished the project.
Picture Gallery interior © Ruhrfisch/cc-by-sa-3.0
During the 19th century , the palace became a residence of
Frederick William IV. He employed the architect
Ludwig Persius to restore and enlarge the palace, while
Ferdinand von Arnim was charged with improving the grounds and thus the view from the palace. The town of Potsdam, with its palaces, was a favourite place of residence for the German imperial family until the fall of the
Hohenzollern dynasty in 1918.
After World War II, the palace became a tourist attraction in
East Germany . Following
German reunification in 1990, Frederick’s body was returned to the palace and buried in a new tomb overlooking the gardens he had created. Sanssouci and its extensive gardens became a World Heritage Site in 1990 under the protection of UNESCO; in 1995, the Foundation for
Prussian Palaces and Gardens in Berlin-Brandenburg was established to care for Sanssouci and the other former imperial palaces in and around Berlin. These palaces are now visited by more than two million people a year from all over the world.
Read more on
spsg.de – Sanssouci Palace ,
Potsdam Tourism ,
potsdam-park-sanssouci.de and
Wikipeda Sanssouci Palace (
Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State -
Weather report by weather.com -
Johns Hopkins University & Medicine - Coronavirus Resource Center -
Global Passport Power Rank -
Democracy Index -
GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank -
Global Competitiveness Report -
Corruption Perceptions Index -
Press Freedom Index -
World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index -
UN Human Development Index -
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Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index ). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at
comment@wingsch.net . Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
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