The Sanssouci Palace
On August 10, 1744, Frederick the Great began construction for his Sanssouci Palace on a piece of land that he fell in love with during a picnic in 1743. The hill was previously owned by the city of Potsdam’s orphanage, but Frederick had plans to turn it into a vineyard and then later his magnificent summer home (Wesch 4), transforming the garrison town.
Chinese Teahouse
Sanssouci is French for “without cares,” a fitting name for the beautiful summer home where Frederick spent much of his time when not at war. His first intent for the land was to grow a vineyard. Vines were imported from Italy, Portugal, and France, per his instructions.
Just a few months later, Frederick decided he wanted a palace on the property, so he began to design the ground plan. Frederick was “indebted to Italian and French theoreticians,” (8) using the “Chateaux de plaisance” ideal, then popular in royal circles.
New Palace
With the help of his architect, Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, the foundation stone was laid on April 14, 1745. The palace took two years to complete. Frederick hosted a party of 200 for his first dinner party at the Sanssouci Palace. Then the palace largely went unchanged until Frederick William IV’s reign, in 1840, when an addition to the side wings and another story were commissioned (4).
Charlottenhof Palace **4
Other notable structures in the Sanssouci Park include Frederick II’s New Palace (1763), Chinese House (1755), and Dragon House (1770), as well as Frederick William IV’s Charlottenhof Palace (1829), Orangery Palace (1864), and Roman Bathhouse (1829).
Frederick was not the only Prussian leader who was inspired by foreign architecture. Frederick William IV was also inspired by the Roman neoclassical style.
[**Photo 4: “Charlottenhof Palace” by Jose M. Alonso is licensed under Creative Commons Attricution 2.0 Generic]