The Park Sanssouci covers 724 acres - compared to Central Park's 840 - and has three palaces: the rococo Sanssouci Palace, the Baroque New Palace and Charlottenhof Palace.

 

In its entirety, Sanssouci presents an ensemble of palaces and gardens that form the centerpiece of Potsdam's unique cultural and historical landscape.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Prussian kings and later German emperors of the house of Hohenzollern transformed the natural Havel landscape of sandy hills, pine forests, rivers and lakes into an outstanding cultural landscape, an ensemble of palaces of various styles and parks of various kinds.

King Friedrich II designed and commissioned the Park Sanssouci in 1745. Within the park, on top of a vineyard hill northwest of the town, the small rococo palace of Sanssouci was built in 1745-1747, the hill slope terraced and a French garden and fountains set up on its base. More picturesque buildings were added like the Chinese Tea House, the Picture Gallery, grottoes and ruins. Later the park was extended, and other structures added such as the impressive New Palace, the Dragon House and the Belvedere. At one point, plans called for 16 palaces, but the Hohenzollern dynasty didn't last that long.

 
The most spectacular alterations and extensions of the parks and palaces, their composition into an intricate cultural landscape was planned and carried out by the succeeding king Friedrich Wilhelm IV. To the park of Sanssouci he added in the southeast the Marly garden with the Friedenskirche (Church of Peace) in the style of an early Christian basilica. In the southwest he added an estate as an English landscaped park with the Charlottenhof palace and other buildings in the style of Roman villas. At the northern edge of the park the Orangerie was rebuilt in the style of romantic classicism.

 
In the 19th century, renowned landscape architect Peter Joseph Lenné unified the palaces and gardens into such a harmonious landscape of palaces and gardens that UNESCO placed it on the list of World Heritage Sites in 1991.