Sanssouci Palace is the most popular of Potsdam's palaces, a charming rococo masterpiece set atop a hill overlooking the Havel landscape.

 

A king who joined his troops on the battlefield, Frederick the Great commissioned Sanssouci Palace in 1747 as a summer palace where he could have a respite from battle sans souci - without worry. You can see his fatigue in the many statues: the warrior in marble, his sword in its sheath, his shield down, a look of weariness on his face.

Most of what visitors see is the ornate original - not reconstructions or duplicates - and perhaps German's most impressive example of rococo architecture. In front of it, vineyard terraces stretch in geometric shapes into the park.

The architect G.W. v. Knobelsdorff implemented the royal plans 1745-1947. The result was a one-story building with a cupola over the oval marble hall and the vestibule in the center, and only four rooms on each side. The northern entrance was flanked by a semi-circular colonnade, the southern front decorated with 36 sandstone sculptures between the tall ground floor windows.

The interior, the walls, ceilings and doors of all rooms were richly and intricately embellished and furnished in the rococo style. The palace gained additional charm through its setting. The southern hill slope, called the Weinberg, was shaped into six terraces. The area at the base was transformed into a baroque style garden with a round pond (and later a fountain) in its center, with artistically cut hedges and flower beds and with many marble sculptures.

A few years after the completion of the palace a picture gallery with the Dutch garden was added on the hill slope to the east, the similar new chambers with the rose garden to the west of the palace. They form the rococo core in the park of Sanssouci.

City & Palace Tour Sightseeing Tour including visit of Sanssouci Palace
Tuesday to Sunday at 11 pm from Potsdam Filmmuseum
Adults € 26, children reduction 0-6 years free, 7-12 years 50 %

Tickets to be obtained at Tourist-Information and in Hotels, left-over tickets at the bus

 

Potsdam Tourismus Service
Am Neuen Markt 1
14467 Potsdam
Phone: +49 (0) 331 / 275 58 0
E-Mail: tourismus-service@potsdam.de
Internet: www.potsdamtourismus.de