The vast area of gardens, palaces that makes up Park Sanssouci lies on the eastern edge of Potsdam, very close to the town centre. King Friedrich II of Prussia (Frederick the Great) built the first palace, Schloss Sanssouci ("Carefree Palace") in 1747, and over the next 150 years successive kings of Prussia and emperors of Germany (they were one and the same) made their mark by adding new palaces and other buildings, and by landscaping the Park.
Schloss Sanssouci from the terrace, built in 1745. More on the windmill (left) below!
Looking the other way towards Potsdam...
The Historiche Mühle
(Historic Windmill). The story is that not even a king could force
the miller to sell his property (which lies just outside the park's
boundary) so the windmill remained to spoil the view!
The Neue Kammern (New Chambers) with the windmill in the background.
The nearby Sizilianischer Garten (Sicilian Garden) with that windmill again!
The Orangerieschloss (Orangery
Palace) built by Friedrich Wilhelm IV and completed in 1860.
The Orangerieschloss,
looking towards the north-west again.
The statue
of Friedrich Wilhelm IV (reigned 1840-61) in front of the main portal
of the Orangerieschloss.
Looking
through the archways at the far end of the Orangerieschloss
towards the Belvedere.
The
Belvedere, the last of Frederick the Great's buildings, finished
in 1772.
A peaceful spot in Park Sanssouci
-- just off the Hauptallee (Main Avenue) leading to the New Palace.
The Neues Palais (New Palace)
completed for Frederick the Great in 1769.
Apparently this was
the only palace in the Park Sanssouci complex that could be lived
in all year round!
Along
the Maulbeerallee (Mulberry Avenue).
The
Drachenhaus (Dragon House) -- a Chinese style summerhouse.
The
Villa Illaire in Am Grünen Gitter ("At the Green Trellis")
-- leading towards the great flight of steps up to Schloss
Sanssouci.
The Friedenskirche (Church
of Peace) was built by the pious King Friedrich Wilhelm IV as an exact reproduction of an early Christian
Roman basilica, completed in 1848. Its austerity and coldness contrasts
with the other buildings in the Park Sanssouci complex!
On the other side of Potsdam, towards Berlin, lies the Neuer Garten (New Garden) -- a beautiful park laid out for Friedrich-Wilhelm II between 1786 and 1791. Here is the Pyramid, which actually served as an ice cellar.
The Cecilienhof was built between 1913 and 1917 for Kaiser Wilhelm II's eldest son, the Crown Prince. It was deliberately modelled in the style of an English country mansion -- except bigger! The State took the palace over when the monarchy fell in 1918, but the ex-Crown Prince and his family were allowed to live there from 1923. They finally fled in 1945 as the Red Army drew closer. The Potsdam Conference was held here in the summer of 1945, between US President Harry S Truman, the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (who was succeeded by Clement Attlee after Labour won the General Election).
Copyright (c) 2005 John Howard. All rights reserved.