Sanssouci ParkGarden Design at the Highest Level

Sanssouci – it is more than just the palace of the Old Fritz, and his beloved sanctuary with an expansive view over Potsdam. Sanssouci is also the world-renowned park with its distinctive, terraced grounds and majestic fountain at its center that was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1990. Here, for more than 250 years, the highest level of garden design has united with works by the most competent architects and sculptors of their times.

In 1743, Frederick the Great personally conceived the plans for his palace with terraces dedicated to growing wine, where he also laid out his grave site. Later, King Frederick William IV substantially expanded the garden between the private, intimate Sanssouci Palace and the monumental New Palace once again. Thus, Frederick’s French pleasure garden was intertwined with a picturesque 19th century landscaped park and enhanced with stately buildings representative of Neoclassicism and German Romanticism.

Today’s visitors can meander through the park’s changing styles of exquisite garden design. The aesthetics and philosophy of past residents of these palace grounds may be discovered in the exquisitely formed individual gardens, architecture, fountains, and in over 1000 sculptures.

Sanssouci Park encompasses nearly 300 hectares and is dissected by an east-west axis spanning more than 2 kilometers. Visitors should plan ample time to see all the sights on a leisurely walk. Nearly 60 gardeners lovingly maintain the park’s flowerbeds, hedges, trees, and expansive lawns and meadows. The splendor of the parterre at the foot of Sanssouci Palace is composed of more than 230,000 plants, biannually arranged in keeping with the pleasure garden’s historical precedent.