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and Corps De Logis of Sanssouci]] Sanssouci, the former summer palace of 2003 . During The 19th Century , the palace became a residence of Frederick William IV . He employed the architect Ludwig Persius to restore and enlarge the palace, while Ferdinand Von Arnim was charged with improving the locality and thus the view from the palace. The town of Potsdam, with its palaces, was a favourite place of residence for the German imperial family until the fall of the Hohenzollern Dynasty in 1918. After - Brandenburg was established to care for Sanssouci and the other former imperial palaces in the vicinity of Berlin. These palaces are now visited by more than two million people a year from all over the world. 1712–1786]] ETHOS OF SANSSOUCI 's own sketch for the plan of Sanssouci was the Prototype for the palace (south is to the bottom). A single Enfilade of ten principal rooms forms the south facing Corps De Logis . To the north two segmented Colonnade s form a Cour D'honneur . Two flanking service wings (hidden from view, screened by trees and covered by climbing plants) provide the necessary but mundane domestic offices.]] The location and layout of Sanssouci above a for "carefree") and follow his personal and artistic interests. Hence, the palace was intended only for the use of the king and his private guests during the summer months, from the end of April to the beginning of October. Twenty years after his creation of Sanssouci, Frederick built the New Palace (''Neues Palais'') in the western part of the park. This far larger palace was in direct contrast to the relaxed ethos behind Sanssouci, and displayed Frederick's power and strength to the world, in the Baroque style. The design of the New Palace was intended to demonstrate that Prussia's capabilities were undiminished despite its near defeat in the Seven Years' War .Stiftung Preussische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin - Brandenburg: '' The New Palace in Sanssouci Park ''. Frederick made no secret of his intention, even referring to the new construction as his ''"fanfaronnade"'' (his "showing off").Stiftung Preussische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin - Brandenburg:"The New Palace at Sanssouci", Potsdam 2003, p. 3 This concept of a grand palace designed to impress, has led to the comparison of the palaces of Potsdam to Versailles,UNESCO: '' Schlösser und Parks von Potsdam-Sanssouci '' (German) with Sanssouci being thrust into the role of one of one of the Trianons . This analogy, though easy to understand, ignores the original merits of the concept behind Sanssouci, the palace for which the whole park and setting were created. Unlike the Trianons, Sanssouci was not an afterthought to escape the larger palace, for the simple reason that the larger palace did not exist at the time of Sanssouci's conception. It is true, however, that Sanssouci was intended to be a private place of retreat rather than display of power and strength and architectural merit. Unlike the Trianons, Sanssouci was designed to be a whole unto itself. s enclosing the '' Cour D'honneur '' on the northern side of the palace.]] Sanssouci is small, with the principal block (or '' is the entrance front, where a semicircular Cour D'honneur was created by two segmented Corinthian Colonnades . In the park east of the palace is the Sanssouci Picture Gallery , built from 1755 to 1764 under the supervision of the architect Johann Gottfried Büring . It stands on the site of a former Greenhouse , where Frederick raised Tropical Fruit . The Picture Gallery is the oldest extant museum built for a ruler in Germany. Like the palace itself, it is a long, low building, dominated by a central domed bow of three bays. ignored his architect's advice to place the Piano Nobile upon a low ground floor. As a result, the palace failed to take maximum advantage of its location. Its windows are devoid of views, and seen from its lower Terrace s it appears to be more of an Orangery than a palace.]] Following the death of Frederick the Great, a new era began, a visible sign of which was the change in architectural styles. Neo-Classicism , popular elsewhere in Europe but ignored by Frederick, now found its way to Potsdam and Berlin during the reign of the new king Frederick William II . He ordered the construction of a new palace in the new more fashionable style, and stayed at Sanssouci only occasionally. The reception and bedrooms were renovated and completely altered immediately after the King's death. Frederick William Von Erdmannsdorff received the commission for the refurbishment. While Frederick the Great had been constructing the New Palace in the Baroque style between 1763 and 1769, Erdmannsdorff, an advocate of the new neo-classical style, had created Schloss Wörlitz in Wörlitz Park , the first neo-classical palace in Germany. As a result of his influence, Sanssouci became the first of the palaces in Potsdam and Berlin to be remodelled with a neo-classical interior. In 1797, Frederick William II was succeeded by Frederick William III ; he visited Sanssouci even less frequently than did his father, preferring to spend the summer months in Chateau Paretz or on the Pfaueninsel in Berlin. ARCHITECTURE OF SANSSOUCI and Caryatid s.]] It was no coincidence that Frederick the Great selected the Rococo style of architecture for Sanssouci. The light, almost whimsical style then in vogue exactly suited the light-hearted uses for which he required this retreat. The Rococo style of Art emerged in France in the early 18th century as a continuation of the Baroque style, but in contrast with the heavier themes and darker colours of the Baroque, the Rococo was characterized by an opulence, grace, playfulness, and lightness. Rococo Motifs focused on the carefree aristocratic life and on light-hearted romance, rather than on heroic battles and religious figures: they also revolve heavily around natural and exterior settings; this again suited Frederick’s ideal of nature and design being in complete harmony. The palace was completed much as Frederick had envisaged in his preliminary sketches (''see illustration above'') The palace has a single-storey principal block with two flanking side wings. The building occupies almost the entire upper terrace. The potential monotony of the façade is broken by a central bow, its dome rising above the hipped roof, with the name of the palace on it in gilded bronze letters. The secondary side wings on the garden front are screened by two symmetrical rows of trees each terminating in free-standing Trellis ed Gazebo s, richly decorated with gilded ornaments. The garden front of the palace is decorated by carved figures of , and the groups of Cherubs above the windows of the dome. of the Sanssouci Picture Gallery .]] By contrast, the north entrance façade is more restrained. Segmented colonnades of eighty-eight Corinthian columns—two deep—curve outwards from the palace building to enclose the semicircular ''cour d'honneur''. As on the south side, a Balustrade with sandstone vases decorates the roof of the main ''corps de logis''. Flanking the ''corps de logis'' are two secondary wings, providing the large service accommodation and domestic offices necessary to serve an 18th-century monarch, even when in retreat from the world. In Frederick's time, these single-story wings were covered with foliage to screen their mundane purpose. The eastern wing housed the secretaries', gardeners' and servants' rooms, while the west wing held the palace kitchen, stables and a ''remise'' ( Coach House ). Frederich regularly occupied the palace each summer throughout his lifetime, but following his death in 1786, Sanssouci remained mostly unoccupied and neglected until the mid-19th century. In 1840, exactly 100 years after Frederick the Great's accession to the throne, his grand nephew Frederick William IV and his wife moved into the guest rooms. The royal couple retained the existing furniture and replaced missing pieces with furniture from Frederick's time. The room in which Frederick the Great had died was intended to be restored to its original state, but this plan was never executed because of a lack of authentic documents and plans. However, the armchair in which Frederick had died was returned to the palace in 1843. Frederick William IV , a draftsman interested in both architecture and landscape gardening, transformed the palace from the retreat of his reclusive great uncle into a fully functioning and fashionable country house. The small service wings were enlarged between 1840 and 1842. This was necessary because, while Frederick the Great philosophised and played music at Sanssouci, he liked to live modestly without splendour. As he aged, his modesty developed into miserliness. He would not permit repairs to the outer Façade and allowed them in the rooms only with great reluctance. This was ascribed to his wish that Sanssouci should only last his lifetime.Berliner Zeitung: ''Spröde Fassadengeschichten'', 19th February 2003 , were remodelled in the 19th century by Frederick William IV , who transformed the palace into a more conventional royal residence for family and court use.]] The additions included a Mezzanine floor to both wings. The kitchen was moved into the east wing. Frederick the Great's small Wine Cellar was enlarged to provide ample store rooms for the enlarged household, while the new upper floor provided staff bedrooms. The west wing became known as "The Ladies' Wing", providing accommodation for in 1733, but separated from his wife after his accession to the throne in 1740. The Queen resided alone at Schloss Schönhausen in Berlin after the separation, and Frederick preferred Sanssouci to be ''"sans femmes"'' (without women).Rempel, Gerhard: '' Frederick the Great '' INTERIOR OF THE PALACE , 1852, depicts Frederick The Great playing the flute in his music room at Sanssouci.]] In the Baroque tradition, the principal rooms (including the bedrooms) are all on the same piano nobile—by Frederick's choice, the ground floor. In the case of Sanssouci, this is also the only floor: while the secondary wings have upper floors, the ''corps de logis'' occupied by the King does not. Comfort was also a priority in the layout of the rooms. The palace continues the sentiments of the contemporary French architectural theory: the '' Apartment Double '' ideals of courtly comfort. This system requires two rows of rooms, one behind the other. The main rooms face the garden, by and large looking south, while the Servants' quarters in the row behind are on the north side of the building. An ''Apartment double'' thus consists of a main room and a servant's chamber added on. Doors connect the apartments with each other. They are arranged as an " Enfilade ", so that the entire indoor length of the palace can be taken in at a glance. Frederick sketched his requirements for decoration and layout, and these sketches were interpreted by artists such as Johann August Nahl , the Hoppenhaupt brothers, the Spindler brothers and Johann Melchior Kambly , who all not only created works of art, but decorated the rooms in the Rococo style. While Frederick the Great cared little about Etiquette and fashion, he also wanted to be surrounded by beautiful objects and works of art. He arranged his private apartments according to his personal taste and needs, often ignoring the current trends and fashions. These "self-compositions" in Rococo art led to the term " Frederician Rococo ".Berlin Brandenburg Film Commission: '' Architecture in Berlin and Brandenburg '' A principal entrance areas consisting of two halls, the "Entrance Hall" and the "Marble Hall", are placed at the centre, thus providing common rooms for the assembly of guests and the court, while the principal rooms flanking the Marble Hall become progressively more intimate and private, in the tradition of the Baroque concept of State Room s. Thus, the Marble Hall was the principal reception room beneath the central dome. Five guest rooms adjoined the Marble Hall to the west, while the King's apartments lay to the east - an audience room, music room, study, bedroom, library, and a long gallery on the north side. The palace is officially entered through the Entrance Hall, where the restrained form of the classical external colonnade was continued into the interior. The walls of the rectangular room were subdivided by ten pairs of Corinthian columns made of white Stucco marble with gilded Capitals . Three Overdoor reliefs with themes from the myth of Bacchus reflected the vineyard theme created outside. Georg Franz Ebenhech was responsible for gilded stucco works. The strict classical elegance was relieved by a painted ceiling executed by the Swedish painter Johann Harper , depicting the goddess Flora with her acolytes, throwing flowers down from the sky. The Marble Hall, as the principal reception room, was the setting for celebrations in the palace, decorated with gilded ornamentation, its dome crowned by a Urania , the goddess of free nature and life, and Apollo , the god of the arts, established the iconography of Sanssouci as a place of art and nature. The adjoining room served as both an audience room and the Dining Room. It is decorated with paintings by French 18th-century artists, including Jean-Baptiste Pater , Jean Francois De Troy , Pierre Jacques Cazes , Louis De Silvestre , and Antoine Watteau . However, here, as in the majority of the rooms, the carved Putti , flowers and books on the overdoor reliefs were the work of Glume, and the ceiling paintings emphasise the rococo spirit of the palace. This exuberant form of ornamentation of rococo, Rocaille , was used in abundance on the walls and ceiling in the music room. Much of the work was by the sculptor and decorator Johann Michael Hoppenhaupt (the elder). A 1746 Fortepiano by Gottfried Silbermann which once belonged to Frederick the Great remains as a nostalgic reminder of the room's original purpose. The King's study and bedroom, remodelled after the King's death by Frederick William Von Erdmannsdorff in 1786, it is now in direct contrast to the rococo rooms. Here, the clean and plain lines of classicism now rule. However, Frederick's desk and the armchair in which he died in were returned to the room in the middle of the 19th century. Portraits and once missing pieces of furniture from the Frederick's time have also since been replaced. The circular library deviated from the spatial structure of French palace architecture. The room is almost hidden, accessed through a narrow passageway from the bedroom, underlining its private character. Cedarwood was used to panel the walls and for the Alcove d Bookcase s. The harmonious shades of brown augmented with rich gold-coloured Rocaille ornaments were intended to create a peaceful mood. .]] The bookcases contained approximately 2,100 volumes of Greek and Roman writings and Historiographies and also a collection of French Literature of the 17th and 18th centuries with a heavy emphasis on the works of Voltaire . The books were bound in brown or red goat leather and richly gilded. The north facing gallery overlooked the forecourt. Here, again, the King deviated from French room design, which would have placed service rooms in this location. Recessed into the inner wall of this long room were Niche s containing marble sculptures of Greco-Roman deities. Five windows alternating with Pier Glasses on the outer wall reflect the paintings by Nicolas Lancret , Jean-Baptiste Pater and Antoine Watteau hung between the niches opposite. To the west were the guest rooms in which were lodged those friends of the King considered intimate enough to be invited to this most private of his palaces. Two of the King's visitors were sufficiently distinguished and such frequent visitors that the rooms they occupied were named after them. The '''Rothenburg room''' is named after wall panel were superimposed, colourful, richly adorned wood carvings. Apes, parrots, cranes, storks, fruits, flowers, garlands gave the room a cheerful and natural character. Johann Christian Hoppenhaupt (the younger) designed the room between 1752 and 1753 from sketches made by the King. THE TERRACED GARDENS .]] The Panoramic vista of the garden of Sanssouci is the result of Frederick the Great's decision to create a Terrace d vineyard on the south slope of the hills of Bornstedt . The area had previously been wooded but the trees were felled during the reign of the "soldier-king" Frederick William I to allow the city of Potsdam to expand. On 10 August 1744 , Frederick the Great ordered the bare hillside to be transformed into terraced vineyards. Three wide terraces were created, with Convex centres to maximise the sun light (''see plan''). On the partitions of the supporting walls, the brickwork is pierced by 168 glazed Niche s. Trellis ed Vine s from Portugal , Italy , France , and also from nearby Neuruppin , were planted against the brickwork, while Fig s grew in the niches. The individual parts of the terrace were further divided by strips of lawn, on which were planted Yew Trees . Low Box Hedging surrounded trellised fruit, making a circular ornamental Parterre . In the middle of this "wheel", 120 steps (now 132) led downward further dividing the terraces into six. at Sanssouci.]] Below the hill, a , Mercury , Apollo , Diana , Juno , Jupiter , Mars and Minerva , as well as allegorical portrayals of the Four Elements Fire, Water, Air and Earth. Venus and Mercury , the works of the sculptor Jean Baptiste Pigalle , and two groups of hunters, allegories of the elements (wind and water) by Lambert Sigisbert Adam , were presented by Versailles's owner, the French King Louis XV . The remaining figures came from the workshop of Francois Gaspard Adam , a renowned sculptor in Berlin. By 1764, the French Rondel, as it came to be known, was completed. Nearby was a . In his plans for the grounds, Frederick the Great attached great importance on the combination of both an ornamental and a practical garden, thus demonstrating his belief that Art and Nature should be united. THE PARK : constructed south of the main avenue from 1768 to 1770 by Carl Von Gontard in memory of Frederick The Great 's favourite sister, Margravine Wilhelmine Of Bayreuth . The building complements the Antique Temple, which lies due north of the alley.]] See Also: Sanssouci Park Following the terracing of the vineyard and the completion of the palace, the King turned his attention to the landscaping of the greater vicinity of the palace and thus began the creation of long, beginning in the east at the 1748 Obelisk and extended over the years to the New Palace, which marks its western end. Continuing the horticultural theme of the terraced gardens, 3,000 fruit trees were planted in the park, and Greenhouses and Nurseries laid out, producing Oranges , Melon s, Peach es and Banana s. Statuary and Obelisk s were also erected, with representations of the goddesses Flora and Pomona . The King had several temples and follies erected in the same rococo style as the palace itself. Some were small houses which compensated for the lack of reception rooms in the palace itself. , designed by elements coupled with Oriental architecture.]] Frederick invested heavily in a vain attempt to introduce a fountain system in Sanssouci Park, attempting to emulate the other great Baroque gardens of Europe. Hydraulics at this stage were still in their infancy, and despite the building of pumping houses and reservoirs, the fountains at Sanssouci remained silent and still for the next 100 years. The invention of the s. The pumping station itself became another garden pavilion, disguised as Turkish Mosque , with its Chimney becoming a Minaret . The park was expanded under Frederick William III, and later under his son Frederick William IV. The architects Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Ludwig Persius built Charlottenhof Palace in the park on the site of a former farm house, and Peter Joseph Lenné was commissioned with the garden design. Broad meadows created visual avenues between Charlottenhof, the Roman Baths and the New Palace, and incorporated the Follies such as the Temple Of Friendship of Frederick the Great. SANSSOUCI IN MODERN TIMES was constructed between 1770 and 1772 in the Chinoiserie style on the northern edge of Sanssouci Park .]] After the First World War , and despite the end of the German monarchy, the palace remained in the possession of the Hohenzollern dynasty. It eventually came under the protection of the Prussian "Verwaltung der Staatlichen Schlösser und Gärten" (Administration of National Palaces and Gardens) on April 1 1927 .Stiftung Preussische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin - Brandenburg: '' The foundation's history '' When Air Raid s on Berlin began in the Second World War , the most notable works of art of the former imperial palaces were transferred for safety to Rheinsberg ( Brandenburg ) and Bernterode Im Eichsfeld ( Thüringen ). The structure of the palace remained unscathed despite fierce fighting in the vicinity in 1945, but the ancient Windmill , retained in the park by Frederick the Great to add rustic charm, was destroyed.Stiftung Preussische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin - Brandenburg: '' The Historical Windmill in Sanssouci Park '' Following the end of the war, most of the items that had been moved to Rheinsberg were transferred as booty to the Soviet Union ; only a small part was returned to the palace in 1958. The artistic pieces from Bernterode found by American soldiers were first shipped to Wiesbaden to the "Central Art Collecting Point" and in 1957 went to Charlottenburg Palace in West Berlin . Compared to many similar buildings, the palace fared well during almost 50 years under Communist jurisdiction in East Germany. The Church Of St. Saviour in Sacrow and the centre of Potsdam were neglected, and some of the historic centre of Potsdam was demolished. The Berlin City Palace , containing architectural work by Schinkel, von Erdmannsdorff and von Knobelsdorff was demolished in 1950. Sanssouci survived intact, and in 1986 was even used a motif on the 5 DDM banknote; it was the East German government that endeavoured to have Sanssouci placed on the list of World Heritage Sites. This was achieved in 1990 with the following citation: ''The palace and park of Sanssouci, often described as the "Prussian Versailles", are a synthesis of the artistic movements of the 18th Century in the cities and courts of Europe. That ensemble is a unique example of the architectural creations and landscape design against the backdrop of the intellectual background of monarchic ideas of the state''. Following the reunification of Germany, the library of Frederick the Great was returned in 1992 to its former home at Sanssouci. Thirty six oil paintings followed between 1993 and 1995. In 1995, the Foundation of Prussian Palaces and Gardens in Berlin - Brandenburg was formed. The organization's job is to administer and care for Sanssouci and the other former imperial palaces in Berlin and Brandenburg that are visited by over two million visitors annually from all over the world. REFERENCES
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