Sanssouci

Sanssouci, pronounced [sãsusi] in IPA, (from French sans souci, "carefree") is the palace in the surrounding park of the same name built in Potsdam, Germany, by Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. Frederick wanted to establish a little summer palace for himself in the Rococo style. Sanssouci Palace was built between 1745 and 1747 by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff.

Under Frederick William IV the "the rococo palace par excellence" was altered by changing and extending the side wings. Ludwig Persius provided the plans, and Ferdinand von Arnim was charged with improving the locality and so the view from the palace.

Since 1990 Sanssouci with its extensive gardens has been a World Heritage Site under the protection of UNESCO. UNESCO gave this reason: "Schloss und Park von Sanssouci, oft als "preußisches Versailles" bezeichnet, sind eine Synthese der Kunstrichtungen des 18. Jahrhunderts in den Städten und Höfen Europas. Das Ensemble ist ein herausragendes Beispiel von Architekturschöpfungen und Landschaftsgestaltungen vor dem geistigen Hintergrund der monarchistischen Staatsidee." (The palace and park of Sanssouci, often described as the "Prussian Versailles", are a synthesis of the artistic movements of the 18th Century in the cities and courts of Europe. That ensemble is a unique example of the architectural creations and landscape design against the backdrop of the intellectual background of monarchic ideas of the state.)

The gardens of the vineyard terraces

The famous garden view from Sanssouci resulted from the decision by Frederick the Great to place a terraced vineyard on the south slope of Bornstedt hills where previously oak trees had stood. At the time of the "soldier-king" Frederick William I the trees were felled and, with the expansion of the city of Potsdam, moved to fortify the marshy earth. On 10th August 1744, Frederick the Great gave the order to convert the bare hillside into vineyard terraces.

The slope was shaped into three wide terraces, with inward swinging walls in the middle at the back to maximise the effect of the sun. On the partitions of the supporting walls the brickwork alternates with 168 glazed niches. Trellised vines from Portugal, Italy, France, and also from nearby Neuruppin climbed upwards on the brickwork, and figs grew in the niches. The individual parts of the terrace were further divided by strips of lawn, planted with Taxus (Yew) trees and a fenced-off hedge of trellised fruit. In the middle of this 'wheel' 120 steps (now 132) led down the slope, dividing the terraces into six. Paths from both sides of the slope led to the terraces.

Below the hill, in the parterre, a baroque ornamental garden was established in 1745. At the centre of this garden a Great Fountain was built in 1748, but Frederick never saw it at work, because the assigned "Fountainiers" had little grasp of the matter. From 1750 onward, marble statues were built to surround the basin: figures of Venus, Mercury, Apollo, Diana, Juno, Jupiter, Mars and Minerva, as well as allegorical portrayals of the four elements Fire, Water, Air and Earth. Venus and Mercury, the works of the sculptor Jean Baptiste Pigalle, and two groups of hunters, allegories of the elements wind and water by Lambert Sigisbert Adam, were presents from the French King Louis XV. The other figures are from the workshop of Francois Gaspard Adam, the head of the French sculptor studios in Berlin during the reign of Frederick the Great. In 1764 the so-called French Rondel was completed.

Nearby is a kitchen garden, which Frederick William I laid out before 1715. The soldier-king jokingly gave this simple garden the name "My Marly" in reference to the corresponding, very elaborate structure of the French King Louis XIV, the 'Sun King'.

In his plans for the entire grounds, Frederick the Great attached great importance to the combination of an ornamental and practical garden. Other than this, his partiality for fresh fruit and his belief that art and nature should be united were decisive to the way the gardens turned out.

Sanssouci Palace

The location and layout of Sanssouci above a vineyard also reflect the harmony between man and nature. Despite being very common since the 13th Century in the Mark Brandenburg, wine production never took centre stage in the artistic organisation of princely pleasure gardens. The hill was to become the centre of the park, and everything was crowned by a little palace -- "mein Weinberghäuschen" (my little vineyard house), as Frederick called it.

With an extensive view of the counytryside in the midst of nature, the king wanted to live 'sans souci' -- carefree -- and to follow his personal inclinations and artistic interests, as well as to conduct state business. A windmill, which had stood on the hill since 1736, underlined how rurally idyllic the site was. Frederick's (legendary) opinion was that "...die Mühle dem Schloss eine Zierde sey" (... the mill be an ornament for the palace).

Sanssouci at the time of Frederick the Great

On 13th January 1745, Frederick the Great decreed the construction of a "pleasure house at Potsdam". The architect Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff made plans for the building. Frederick rejected his suggestions to raise the building on a ' pedestal', to put a cellar underneath and to place the building near the edge of the upper terrace. These proposals were meant to create a better view of the palace from the parterre, but Frederick wanted an intimate palace for living, in the Rococo style, that was only there for his needs. He wanted a ground level building, whose 'pedestal' was the hill, a "maison de plaisance" (country or pleasure house), without a large number of steps, so that he could immediately go from inside the palace onto a wide terrace and from there into the garden. He sought a house with a close connection between its style and free nature.

Frederick played an active role in the design of all the buildings in Potsdam and Berlin created on his commision, both in terms of administration and artistic design. After his first plans were made, he estimated the cost before the commencement of every piece of work. Nothing was allowed to begin until the King had authorised it. He interfered in everything and constantly wanted to be informed about every little detail, which often led to disagreements between the architects and the King. This limited the artistic visions of Knobelsdorff, who had to implement the wishes of his client.

After only two years of construction the inauguration of the vineyard palace took place on the 1st of May 1747, although not all of the rooms were finished. Except during wartime, Frederick lived there in the summer months from the end of April to the beginning of October. The building was only conceived for the king and his chosen guests. He separated himself from his wife Elisabeth Christine von Braunschweig-Bevern, to whom he had been married since 1733, after her accession to the throne in 1740. He gave her Schönhausen Palace at Berlin. Sanssouci was "sans femmes" (without women).

The Rococo period saw a separation between private and public areas. The Potsdam City Palace was built for representative purposes between 1662 and 1669 under the Prince Elector Frederick William. It was inhabited by Frederick during the winter months. . Potsdam developed into the primary royal residence, whereas Berlin and Charlottenburg Palace (which was originally planned as his place of residence), moved into second place. This occurred even after Frederick had built the "neue Flügel" (new wing) at Charlottenburg.

In Sanssouci the Prussian monarch composed, philosophised and played music. He ruled his territory with discipline and lived modestly without splendour. As he grew older, his modesty developed into miserliness. During his lifetime Frederick the Great would not allow any repairs to the outer facade and only very reluctantly allowed them in the rooms, because of his opinion that: "Es soll nur bei meinem Leben dauern" (It should only last for my lifetime)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who was passing through Potsdam on the 20th of May 1778, remarked on his visit to Sanssouci in a letter: "Es sind mir tausend Lichter aufgegangen. Und dem Alten Fritz bin ich recht nah geworden, da hab ich sein Wesen gesehen, sein Gold, Silber, Marmor, Affen, Papageien und zerrissene Vorhänge und hab über den großen Menschen seine eigenen Lumpenhunde^ räsonieren hören." (A thousand lights became clear to me. I became quite privy with old Fritz [Frederick], saw his nature close up, his gold, silver, marble, apes, parrots and torn curtains, and I also happened to overhear his own louses discuss the great man.)

The Tomb of Frederick the Great

Old Fritz, as he was popularly known, died on the 17th of August 1786 in the armchair of his study in Sanssouci. He wished to be buried in a tomb next to his "Weinberghäuschen" and beside his favourite dogs.

In his 46-year reign, Frederick frequently concerned himself with his own death. Besides his political testament from 1752, which he re-elaborated before almost every battle, he made new orders before every war, in which he regulated the smallest details of all his familiars and finances. Just as frequent were his repetitions of the instructions for his funeral: "Ich habe als Philosoph gelebt und will als solcher begraben werden, ohne Gepränge, ohne feierlichen Pomp, ohne Prunk. Ich will weder geöffnet, noch einbalsamiert werden. Man bestatte mich in Sanssouci auf der Höhe der Terrassen in einer Gruft, die ich mir habe herrichten lassen... Sterbe ich in Kriegszeiten oder auf der Reise, soll man mich am ersten besten Ort beisetzen und im Winter nach Sanssouci bringen." ( 1769) (I have lived as a philospher and wish to be buried as such, without circumstance, without solemn pomp, without splendour. I want to be neither opened nor embalmed. Bury me in Sanssouci at the level of the terraces in a tomb which I have had prepared for myself... Should I die in time of war or whilst on a journey, I should be buried in the first convenient place and brought to Sanssouci in the winter). His nephew and successor Frederick William II did not obey these instructions and ordered him to be buried in the Potsdam garrison church (destroyed in 1945) next to his father, the soldier King Frederick William I.

However, the church grave was not the final resting place of the Prussian Kings. Almost 160 years later, in the turmoil of World War II, German soldiers took the coffins to safety in an attempt to save them from possible destruction. In March 1943 they were taken into an underground bunker in Potsdam-Eiche and then in March 1945 to the salt mine at Bernterode in Eichsfeld ( Thüringen), from where, after the war's end, they were carried off by soldiers of the U.S. Army to Marburg ( Hessen). There the coffins stayed in the Marburg Elisabeth Church until their transfer to Burg Hohenzollern at Hechingen ( Baden-Württemberg) in August 1952.

After the reunification of Germany the final wish of Frederick the Great was fulfilled. On 17 August 1991, the 205th anniversary of his death, the sarcophagus with the mortal remains of the King was laid out in the forecourt of Sanssouci palace, escorted by an honour guard of the Bundeswehr. The burial took place that night in the tomb Frederick had planned for the purpose since 1744 on the highest terrace of vineyards. "Quand je serai là, je serai sans souci." (Once I am there, I shall be carefree.) Frederick the Great said in 1744.

His father, the Soldier King, has his final resting place in the Kaiser-Friedrich-Mausoleum at the Church of Peace (Potsdam) in Sanssouci Park.

Sanssouci after Frederick the Great

After the death of Frederick the Great, a new epoch began in Prussia, visible in the change in architectural styles at that time. Classicism, the style which had been favoured in Europe for a time, and which predominated between 1770 and 1830, had been ignored by Frederick. Under his successor Frederick William II, classical architecture now also made an entrance in Potsdam and Berlin. The new King ordered the construction of the Marble Palace in the New Garden and only lived in Sanssouci occasionally until 1790.

In the year Frederick the Great died, the furniture was changed and the badly spoilt workrooms and bedroom were renovated and completely altered. Frederick William von Erdmannsdorff received the commission for the refurbishment. While Frederick the Great was constructing the New Palace in the baroque style between 1763 – 1769, Erdmannsdorff created Schloss Wörlitz in Wörlitz Park, the first classical palace in Germany. As a result of his work, Sanssouci became the first of the palaces in Potsdam and Berlin to have a consistently classical styled interior.

From his coronation in 1797 Frederick William III only used the vineyard palace for occasional short stays. His family spent the summer months in Paretz palace or on the Pfaueninsel in Berlin.

Sanssouci at the time of Frederick William IV

Almost one hundred years after the construction of Sanssouci, a King who was convinced of the divine right of his crown and of the absolute claim to power of the ruler came to the Prussian throne. That was a time of social upheaval, its bloody climax being the March Revolution of 1848. Frederick William IV, the romantic on the throne, admired and respected the person and world of Frederick the Great very much. He believed that he had much in common with Frederick in terms of their complex interests, especially in the area of architecture and artistic design. But Frederick William IV was not sufficiently astute for the political re-orientation that occured in the middle of the 19th Century. He sought authentication of his own claim to power and the role of the regent through his proximity to his admirable ancestor.

Whilst still crown prince, Frederick William had shown a great interest in Sanssouci palace and the park of his great-great uncle Frederick. The oldest son of Frederick William III and Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz asked for permission to use the palace of his ancestor in 1832, although he and his wife Elisabeth Ludovika von Bayern could have moved into the now built Charlottenhof, whose grounds were connected to the Frederician Park.

After his accession to the throne in 1840, exactly one hundred years after the beginning of the reign of Frederick the Great, the royal couple finally moved into the guestrooms in the "göttliche Sanssouci" (divine Sanssouci), as Frederick William called it. The existing furniture was maintained and the missing pieces were replaced by furniture from the Frederician period. The room in which Frederick the Great had died, transfigured under Frederick William II, was to be repaired back to its original state, but this plan was never realised because authentic documents and plans were missing. The only thing to arrive back at its old place (in 1843) was the armchair in which Frederick had died.

The need for redevelopment of the side wings and the larger issue of the lack of a courtyard made reconstruction and extension necessary. Frederick William IV commissioned Ludwig Persius to develop the plans. Ferdinand von Arnim supervised the construction. With architectural sensitivity, the design elements which were situated on the north front side became more prominent. As a result of Knobelsdorff's ideas, this had received a serious presentational character, a far cry from the previous cheerfully playful garden front. With great surety of style, the new was connected with the old.

During the design of the interior of the western wing the Rococo style was again taken up. The second surge in popularity of Rococo was a current of the multi-faceted artistic movement of the middle twenty years of the 19th Century. However, it was not only a fashionable trend for Frederick William IV and the palace, but also a revival of the artistic values of Frederick the Great and therefore in this respect only to be found at Sanssouci. Indeed Frederick William IV preferred the Antique, the Renaissance and the Classical architectural styles for the numerous other buildings which were created during his reign in Potsdam.

After a serious illness, Frederick William IV died on the 2nd January 1861 in his "Traumschloss" (dream palace) Sanssouci and was buried there. The tomb was built in the years 1845 – 1848 at the Church of Peace in Sanssouci Park. The last female inhabitant was his widow Elisabeth Ludovika. She lived withdrawn in the palace during the summer months for another thirteen years. In February 1861 she wrote to her nephew Otto, who was King of Greece at that time: "Ich lebe still fort, an dem Ort, den er so liebte, den er immer verschönte, und wo er seine letzte Lebenszeit ununterbrochen zubrachte. ... die tausend wehmütigen Erinnerungen an die glücklichen Zeiten und besonders an seine letzten Leiden brachen mir das Herz. Dennoch bleibe ich. Es hilft nichts, den Schmerz zu fliehen, er kommt mit, und die Sehnsucht hätte mich doch wieder hierher getrieben ...." (I live on quietly, in the place which he loved so, which he always used to beautify, and where he spent the last part of his life uninterrupted...the thousand melancholic memories of the happy times and particularly of his final suffering broke my heart. Nevertheless I stay. It does not help to flee pain, it comes with one, and the longing would have driven me back here in any case.) Elisabeth Ludovika died on the 14th December 1873 and was buried next to Frederick William IV in the Church of Peace.

Sanssouci from the end of the 19th Century until the present day

After the death of its last royal inhabitant, Sanssouci Museum was created and thus is among the oldest palace museums in Germany.

After the First World War and the end of the monarchy, the vineyard palace first remained in the possession of the Hohenzollern dynasty and later came under the protection of the Prussian "Verwaltung der Staatlichen Schlösser und Gärten" (Administration of National Palaces and Gardens) on 1st April in the year of that organisation's creation, 1927.

When the Second World War air raids on Berlin began, the most notable works of art of the palaces of Potsdam and Berlin were transferred for their safety in 1942 to Rheinsberg ( Brandenburg) and Bernterode im Eichsfeld ( Thüringen). The palace building remained unscathed during the battles around Potsdam in April 1945, although on the north side, between the steps up to the palace and the historic windmill, fighting took place, which caused the razing of the mill.

After the Second World War most of the items in the inventory shifted to Rheinsberg were transferred as booty to the Soviet Union and only a small part of this was returned in 1958. The artistic pieces from Bernterode found by American soldiers were first shipped to Wiesbaden in the "Central Art Collecting Point" and in 1957 went to Charlottenburg palace ( West Berlin). After the reunification of Germany, the book collection of Frederick the Great was returned to the library of Sanssouci in September 1992 from Charlottenburg, and thirty six oil paintings followed between 1993 and 1995.

Sanssouci in East Germany

The advisory body to UNESCO stated in 1999 that "The history of the past fifty years has left its mark on Potsdam property through neglect, collective re-use of buildings, and the construction of military facilities." The Church of St. Saviour in Sacrow and the centre of Potsdam were neglected, and some of historic centre of Potsdam was demolished by the government. The Berlin City Palace, containing architectural work by Schinkel, von Erdmannsdorff and von Knobelsdorff was knocked down in 1950, Walter Ulbricht (Premier of East Germany at that time) citing it as an example of "Prussian militarism". However, Sanssouci survived intact. Indeed, it was later honored by its placement on the 5 DDM coin in 1986, and it was the East German government that ultimately tried to put it on the list of World Heritage Sites.

Tourism at Sanssouci now

On 1st January 1995, the "Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg" (Foundation of Prussian Palaces and Gardens in Berlin- Brandenburg) was created from the organisations that had resulted from the division of Potsdam-Sanssouci and West Berlin. Its job is to administrate the over two million guests from both in Germany and abroad that annually visit Sanssouci and the other palaces in Berlin and Brandenburg. Being part of the World Heritage Site list, UNESCO has ordered that only 2000 tourists can visit Sanssouci per day. Entrance prices for the tours as of January 2006 are €8 and €5 for concessions. To get to Sanssouci, it is easiest to take the train to Potsdam Hauptbahnhof. From Berlin, this means either the S7 or a regional line. When visiting Sanssouci, in order to protect the floor of the palace, oversized slippers are provided. These fit over shoes as shown in the picture.

Architecture

Although the palace had twelve rooms, Frederick the Great only inhabited five of them. This was a modest size for a regent's palace and reflected the the change in the architectural opinions around the middle of the eighteenth century. The baroque palaces of residence, which were established after the model of Versailles from the middle of the seventeenth century, particularly served their princely owners as representations of their political and economic power. The sizes of the "Prachtbauten" (buildings of splendour) often exceeded those required for their actual uses as places of residence and as places where a court befitting a certain social position could be. After so much splendour and size subsequent princely generations gradually preferred more intimacy and comfort, but this change in taste only occurred gradually. Frederick the Great, who stuck to the Rococo and Baroque forms during his lifetime, ordered the creation of the New Palace in the western part of the park two decades after the construction of Sanssouci. By building the guest palace in the baroque style, he wanted to celebrate architecturally the power and strength of Prussia after the Seven Years War. It was his "fanfaronnade" (fanfaronade, showing off), as he called it.

Sanssouci's External Form

Sanssouci is not, as is usual in princely gardens, the centrepoint, but is the crowning conclusion of the vineyard complex of which it is part. The single storey main building with its adjoining side wings takes up almost the entire top terrace. Two tree-lined avenues, which cover the side wings on the garden side, each find their conclusion in free-standing trellised pavilions, which are richly decorated with gilded ornaments. Much light arrives into the interior through the numerous French windows. To liven up the sequence of windows on the facade, a protruding half-oval centre piece was created. Its dome towers far above the flat gabled roof, and the name of the palace is inscribed upon it with gilded bronze letters.

Sumptuous figures recall the vineyard setting. They are grouped in pairs between the windows and support the roof as Atlas (Timber-support/male figure) and Caryatid (Timber-support/female figure). These sandstone figures are male and female Bacchants, the companions of the wine god Bacchus, and originate from the workshop of the sculptor Friedrich Christian Glume. The same workshop also created the vases on the encircling balustrade of the roof and the groups of cherubs on the dome windows.

The cheerfully playful picture on the garden side stands in contrast to the front situated on the north side. Here factual strictness predominates architecturally. The counterpart to the half oval central building on the garden side is a rectangular Risalit (protruding building part) with a flat roof. In place of the Atlases and Caryatids, corinthian Pilasters (wall columns) support the timberwork.

Colonnades starting at the palace building enclose the plain forecourt in a semicircle and reopen at the ramp leading down to the north. The colonnade is made up of 88 (two deep) corinthian columns. Here, as on the south side, a balustrade with sandstone vases also decorates the roof of the main palace building and it is continued on the quarter arches.

Interior Design

Sanssouci conforms to the principles of a "maison de plaisance" (pleasure house), whose rooms lie on one floor, so that the garden can be reached easily from them. Comfort was also a priority in the layout of the rooms. The palace continues the sentiments of the contemporary French architectural theory -- the " Appartement double" ideals of courtly comfort. This system requires two rows of rooms, one behind the other. The main rooms face the garden, which by and large is situated southwards, and the servants' quarters in the row behind are on the north side of the building. An "Appartement double" thus consists of a main room and a servant's chamber added on. Doors connect the appartments with each other. They are arranged along a straight line, an " enfilade", so that the indoor expanse of the palace can be grasped at a glance. A public entrance area dominates the middle of the building, which does not make the intimate character of the building immediately obvious.

Frederick the Great made his construction sketches with these rules for courtly architecture in mind, but diverging from the French architectural theory in some areas to accommodate his personal wishes and ideas of comfort. He determined in detail how the interiors were to look. In accordance with sketches often made by himself, artists such as Johann August Nahl, the brothers Hoppenhaupt, the brothers Spindler and Johann Melchior Kambly created works of art in the Rococo style. To seek out luxury for himself was a foreign concept to Frederick the Great. He cared little about fads and fashion, which led him to running around with dirty and threadbare clothes as his life wore on, yet he held an inner need to be surrounded by noble things. He had a subtle feeling for anything beautiful and arranged his private appartments after his own taste and needs, which often ignored the prevaling trends. These "self-compositions“ in Rococo art led to the term "Frederician Rococo".

The Palace Rooms

The marble hall, which faces the garden, and the vestibule (reception hall), both on the north-south axis, form the middle point of Sanssouci. Five guestrooms adjoin them to the west. In the eastern part are the King's appartments, containing an audience room, a concert room, a study and bedroom, a library, and a long gallery on the north side.

In the vestibule, the restrained form of the colonnade is continued into the interior. The walls of the rectangular room are subdivided by ten pairs of corinthian columns made of white stucco marble with gilded capitals (headpieces of columns). Three supraporte reliefs (Supraporte = wall surface over the door) with themes from the myth of Bacchus in the entrance area create a relationship to the vineyard. George Franz Ebenhech created the gilded stucco works. The strict elegance is contrasted by a cheerful ceiling picture by the Swedish painter Johann Harper. It shows the goddess Flora with her acolytes, who are throwing flowers down from the sky.

The marble hall was the place for celebrations in the palace. Knobelsdorff took the Pantheon in Rome as a model for the oval floor plan and the dome, the latter being decorated with golden ornamentation with a skylight at the top. Impressive marble pieces from Carrara and Silesia were arranged in this hall, and, as in the vestibule, there were paired columns and the floor was related to the ornamental inlayed work. Two niches hold sculptures by the French sculptor Francois Gaspard Adam. Venus Urania, the goddess of free nature and life, and Apollo, the god of the arts, establish the idea of Sanssouci as a place of the arts and nature.

The adjoining audience room was also used as a dining room. Numerous paintings by Frenchmen of the 18th Century dominate the appearance of the room. In loose hangings works by the artists Jean-Baptiste Pater, Jean Francois de Troy, Pierre Jacques Cazes, Louis de Silvestre, Antoine Watteau and others decorate the damask covered walls. The putti with flowers and books on the supraporte reliefs are the work of Friedrich Christian Glume. The ceiling painting "Zephir bekränzt Flora" ( Zephyr crowns Flora) by court painter Antoine Pesne shows the wind god with the flower goddess.

The exuberant forms of ornamentation of Rococo, of which Rocaille is in abundance on the walls and ceiling, are prominant in the concert room. These ideas are more restrained in the audience room. Pictures by Antoine Pesne and wall mirrors are fitted into the decoration and framed by Rocaille with its typical S- and C-curves. The wooden borders are the work of the sculptor and decorator Johann Michael Hoppenhaupt (the elder). The use of the room is recalled by a hammer piano (the earliest form, and the next stage after the harpsichord) by Gottfried Silbermann from the year 1746 and the music stand of Frederick the Great, a piece of work of the ornamental sculptor Melchior Kambly from 1767. On Adolph von Menzel's painting "Das Flötenkonzert von Sanssouci" (The Flute Concert of Sanssouci) from 1852 and now housed in the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the festive atmosphere of the room during the royal concerts is impressively shown. Frederick the Great plays the flute, he is accompanied on the hammer piano by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, the son of the famous composer Johann Sebastian Bach.

A completely different picture from 1786 by Frederick William von Erdmannsdorf shows the transfigured study and bedroom of Frederick the Great. Here the regimental classical style prevails. The formerly green silk wall covering which veiled gilded wood carving made way for a covering that was likewise green, but without ornamental wood decoration. The gilded Rocaille stucco pieces on the ceiling were removed and replaced by a round painting, around which the signs of the zodiac are grouped. In the place where a richly ornamented balustrade was, two high ionic columns on plain pedestals divide the room. In the middle of the 19th century, Frederick's desk and the armchair in which he died were returned to the room. Portraits and missing pieces of furniture from the Frederician period also arrived.

The library deviates from the spatial structure of French palace architecture. The circular room lies nearly hidden outside of the Enfilade at the end of the King's dwellling and is reached via a narrow passageway from the study and bedroom. The private character of the library is underlined by its position, into which the "Philosopher of Sanssouci" could retire undisturbed. Cedarwood was used to panel the walls and for the alcoved bookcases. The door is integrated into this cohesive wall decoration. The harmonious colour design in brown with rich gold-coloured Rocaille ornaments helps create a peaceful mood.

The bookcases are filled with about 2,100 volumes of Greek and Roman writings, historiography in French translation and French Literature of the 17th and 18th centuries, the focus of which is the works of the poet and philosopher Voltaire. Frederick paid almost no attention to German Literature. The books are bound in brown or red goat leather and richly gilded. The King possessed the same corpus in each of his palace libraries and from 1771 distinguished them by writing golden letters on the covers of the books. V = Sanssouci (V=Vigne=Grape Vine), S = Neues Palais (new palace) in Sanssouci, P = Stadtschloss (city palace) Potsdam, B (in cursive handwriting) = Schloss Berlin ( Berlin City Palace), B,BR = Schloss Breslau (now Wrocław)( Breslau Palace).

The gallery lies facing north on the forecourt side. Here also the King deviated from French room design, which would have placed servants' chambers here, as were carried out on the west side of the palace. The inner wall of the long, narrow room is made up of niches, in which marble sculptures of Greco-Roman deities are placed, and on the outer wall are five windows and mirrors. Paintings by Nicolas Lancret, Jean-Baptiste Pater and Antoine Watteau hang between the niches. Art-loving Frederick particularly esteemed the works of art of these painters. The five guest rooms adjoin the marble hall to the west.

It is not exactly known who received the priviledge over the decades of being allowed to live in Sanssouci. Two guests are connected with Sanssouci, however, by the naming of a couple of rooms. The first is the Rothenburg room, named after a close acquaintance of the King, the Count von Rothenburg, who inhabited the eponymous room until his death in 1751. The second is the Voltaire room. It is uncertain whether the French writer and philosopher lived here in the summer months, during his stay in Potsdam from 1750 – 1753. He was definitely often a guest of the King in these three years. His presence is also recorded on the well-known 1850 painting "Die Tafelrunde" (The Dining Table) in Sanssouci by Adolph von Menzel. Diplomats, officers, writers and philosophers took part in the round table.

The circular Rothenburg room in the western wing situated outside of the enfilade forms the counterpart to the library. The remaining guest rooms correspond to the "Appartement double" form. The appartments each possess a rounded off wall forming an alcove (bed niche) opposite the windows. A door right next to the wall opening leads into the adjacent servants' room and another door into a little chamber where clothes could be kept.

The Voltaire room is remarkable for its decorative arrangement and is also called the "Blumenkammer"(flower chamber) after its style. On a yellow lacquered wall panel are superimposed, colourful, richly adorned wood carvings. Apes, parrots, cranes, storks, fruits, flowers, garlands and much more besides give the room a cheerful and natural character. Johann Christian Hoppenhaupt (the younger) designed the room between 1752 and 1753 after sketches by the King.

The Wings

In Frederick's era, the single story wings were covered in foliage. The eastern wing was the secretaries', gardeners' and servants' rooms. In the west wing lay the palace kitchen, stables and a remise (a coachroom).

Because of his larger court, Frederick William IV ordered the extension of the auxiliary buildings between 1840 and 1842 and their supplementation by addding a floor, which appears as an outwards mezzanine. On account of the alteration, a reorganisation of the premises occurred. The kitchen was shifted into the east wing, which had possessed a little basement since the time of Frederick the Great for wine-barrel storage. There a confectionery and underground store rooms were set up next to the wine cellar. The upper floor contained the servants dwellings.

After the reorganization the west wing served to accommodate the court ladies and guests. This arrangement of rooms corresponds to the "Appartement double". Besides smaller coffee kitchens and a room for orderlies, the ground floor contained three suites for ladies and the upper mezzanine had two gentlemens' appartments and one for ladies. The preferred rooms in the Parterre with their direct entrances to the garden were designed with more intricate Boiserie (wall and ceiling panelling) than the tapestried rooms above. During their construction, the furnishings were a mixture of old Rococo furniture with new pieces in the "second Rococo" style. The latter were supplemented in later years by modern pieces.

Sanssouci Park

After the terracing of the vineyard and the completion of Sanssouci, the surroundings were included in the structure. A baroque flower garden with pieces of turf, flower beds, hedges and trees developed. In the hedge quarter 3,000 fruit trees were planted. There were oranges, melons, peaches and bananas in the greenhouses of the numerous nurseries. The goddesses Flora and Pomona, who decorate the entance obelisk at the eastern park exit, were placed there to highlight the connection of a flower, fruit and vegetable garden.

With the expansion of the site after the creation of further buildings, a dead-straight 2.5 kilometre long main avenue was formed. This began in the east with the 1748 obelisk and was extended over the coming years up to the New Palace, which forms the conclusion in the west. In 1764 the picture gallery was constructed, and in 1774 the New Chambers were established. These flank the palace and open the alley up to rondels with the fountains, which are surrounded by marble statues. From these points footpaths branch off in star patterns between tall hedges into further parts of the garden.

In his organisation of the park, Frederick continued what he had begun in Neuruppin and Rheinsberg. During his stay as Crown Prince in Neuruppin, where he was commander of a regiment from 1732 to 1735, he ordered that a flower, fruit and vegetable garden be laid out in the grounds of his abode. He already deviated here from the classical organisation of baroque gardens, which concerned itself purely with the model represented by Versailles, by combining the beautiful with the useful. He also followed this principle in Rheinsberg. Apart from the transformation of the palace, which Frederick received as a present from his father Frederick William I in 1734, he ordered the establishment of hedge bordered fruit and vegetable areas. Also, here the central avenue and a larger diagonal avenue did not lead to the palace, as was usual in parks of French character, but ran from the south wing and came to an end at right angles to the building.

Frederick invested heavily in the fountain system of Sanssouci Park, as water features were a firm component of baroque gardens. The Neptune Grotto, finished in 1757 in the eastern part of the park, was used just as sparingly for its intended function as the fountain facilities. Atop the Ruinenberg, roughly six hundred metres away, was a water basin from which no water could arrive into the park. The lack of knowledge of the "fountaineers" made the project fail.

One hundred years later the project succeeded with the help of steam power, and thus the purpose of the water reservoir was fulfilled. In October 1842 a 81.4 horsepower steam engine made by August Borsig started working and made the water jet of the Great Fountain below the vineyard terraces rise to a hight of 38 metres. A pumping station on the Havelbrucht was especially built for this machine. It was commissioned by Frederick William IV and built by Ludwig Persius between the years 1841-1843, "in the manner of a Turkish Mosque with a minaret as a chimney".

Many years before, Frederick William III had acquired an area which bordered Sanssouci park to the south and given it to his son Frederick William (IV) for Christmas in 1825. Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Ludwig Persius built Charlottenhof on the site of a former farm house. Peter Joseph Lenné was commissioned with the garden design. With the baroque flower and fruit and vegetable gardens from the Frederician era in mind, the garden architect changed the flat and partly swampy grounds into an open landscape park. Visible from the broad meadows, between Charlottenhof, the Roman Baths and the New Palace with the Temple of Friendship developed from the time of Frederick the Great, casually placed groups of bushes and trees liven up the large park, at the southeast end of which a moat was extended into a pond. Lenné excavated to construct a gently hilly area, on whose highest points the paths meet in the shape of a star.

Further Buildings in Sanssouci Park

Frederick the Great and Frederick William IV moulded the site in the 18th and 19th centuries in the contemporary style and created through their own artistic contribution and utilisation of their architects, sculptors, painters, decorators, garden designers and many more an artistic synthesis of architecture and garden design, whose crowning heart was the vineyard terraces with the palace. The historical site of Sanssouci Park is the largest in the Mark Brandenburg with grounds of roughly 290 hectares and almost 70 kilometres of footpaths.

In the park and on the neighbouring Klausberg next to Sanssouci still more buildings and artistic architecture developed under Frederick the Great:

• Picture Gallery
  

  View of Chinese Teahouse
• The New Chambers
• The Neptune Grotto
• The Chinese House
• The New Palace
• The Temple of Friendship
• The Ancient Temple
• The Obelisk entrance and the Obelisk
• The collection of artistic ruins on the Ruinenberg
• Belvedere (Potsdam) on the Klausberg
• The Dragon House on the Klausberg

Frederick William IV decorated Sanssouci Park and the seamlessly adjoining Charlottenhof with:

• Charlottenhof
• The Roman Baths
• The Church of Peace with the neighbouring group of buildings
• The Orangery Palace or the New Orangery on the Klausberg

Sites within Sanssouci

• Sanssouci Palace, former palace of the Prussian royal and German imperial families
• Orangery Palace, former palace for foreign royal guests
• Neues Palais ("New Palace"), an additional palace in Sanssouci Park, built in 1769.
• Charlottenhof, another palace in Sanssouci Park, by Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1826)