Potsdam's palace of Sanssouci (1745-47) was built by Knobelsdorff on the basis of sketches by Frederick the Great. It is a single-story Roccoco building with an elliptical dome in the center of the garden front and a circular room at each end. The garden front has rich plastic decoration (by F. C. Glume); on the rear front is the Grand Courtyard, enclosed by colonnades of Corinthian columns.
The most notable features of the interior are the oval Marble Hall, with double Corinthian columns; the Little Gallery, with decoration by Hoppenhaupt; the Concert Room, with murals by A. Pesne; the Bedroom and Study (by F. W. von Erdmannsdorff); the Library, with antique busts; and the Voltaire Room.
To the rear of Potsdam's New Palace are the Communs (domestic offices), two brick buildings in Baroque style (by Gontard, 1765-69), with columned porticoes and curving external staircases; they are now occupied by a teachers' training college. Between the two buildings are Corinthian colonnades and a triumphal arch.
In front of the New Palace are the Ancient Temple (Antikentempel) and the Temple of Friendship (Freundschaftstempel), with a statue of Margravine Wilhelmine of Bayreuth. Both temples were built by Gontard on the basis of sketches by Frederick the Great.
Near the east end of Potsdam's Sanssouci Park is the Marlygarten, originally Frederick William I's kitchen garden, laid out by Lenné in 1845-46 as a landscaped park.
Southwest of Potsdam's Sanssouci Palace are the Neue Kammern (New Rooms), originally built by Knobelsdorff in 1747 as an orangery and converted by G. C. Unger in 1771-74 into Frederick the Great's "gardener's house." The interior is richly decorated (intarsia cabinets by the Spindler brothers). In front of the building is the "Fountain Roundel" and farther west the "Muses' Roundel" (by Glume, 1752, after a design by Knobelsdorff).
Address: New Rooms and Park, D-14469 Potsdam, Germany
Read More
Read Less
Read More
Windows detail Sanssouci Palace (1745-47) in Potsdam.
Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam.
Front view of the Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam.
Pond in front of the Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam.
Stairs leading to Potsdam's Sanssouci Palace.
