Potsdam, Sanssouci Park
Frederick the Great chose this “desolate hill” by Potsdam for its attractive location and fine view. As the name “Sans souci” (or “without a care”) on the garden front of the palace proclaims, this summer residence was intended primarily to serve the King’s private diversions. He hoped here to pursue philosophy, music and literature and to be buried one day in the crypt alongside the palace.
The single-storey building in the manner of a French “maison de plaisance” was built in 1745–1747 under the supervision of Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff to specifications by the King. The middle consists of two magnificent halls, with Frederick’s apartments to the east and guest rooms to the west. The King received chosen guests at his famous dining table in the domed Marble Hall. The Library and Concert Room are supreme accomplishments of rococo interior art. The side tracts – the kitchen and the Ladies’ Wing – acquired their present form in 1840–1842 under Frederick William IV. The drawings were by Ludwig Persius. The west (or “ladies’”) wing was intended as “lodging for ladies of court and elsewhere”. The kitchen was accommodated in the east wing.
The colonnades of the cour d’honneur open the view to the Hill of Ruins, where a reservoir feeds water to the garden fountains. Artificial ruins were added in 1748 to create the illusion of an Ancient landscape.
