3. - Schlösser-Magazin

Palace of Sanssouci
Basic Facts
Location: Germany, state of Brandenburg, city
of Potsdam
Historical outline: 1744 laying out of six
vineyard terraces; 1745-47 construction
of Sanssouci Palace by order of Frederick
the Great of Prussia from plans by Georg
Wenzelslaus von Knobelsdorff; 1745
construction of a greenhouse and laying
out of a pleasure garden at the foot of the
vineyard; 1746 construction of an orangery;
1748 construction of Ruinenberg reservoir
by Knobelsdorff; 1751-57 construction of
Neptune Grotto; 1751-63 marble colonnade
built; 1752 construction of gardeners’ houses;
1754-56 Chinese Teahouse built by Johann
Gottfried Büring from a sketch by Frederick
the Great; mansion for Lordmarschall Keuth
built facing the palace; 1755 dismantling of
greenhouse, new gallery building constructed
by Büring; 1763-69 construction of New
Palace (Neues Palais) by Büring and Carl von
Gontard; 1768-69 construction of Temple of
Antiques by Gontard, to house the antiques
collection; 1769-70 Temple of Friendship
built; 1771-72 construction of Belvedere on
Klausberg hill (modeled on the Marcellum
magnum) by Georg Christian Unger, and
construction of Dragon House as a vintner’s
house; 1771-74 conversion of orangery into
guest quarters (Neue Kammern); 1773 glazing
of vineyard terraces; 1826 conversion of
Charlottenhof into a summer residence for
the Crown Prince by Karl Friedrich Schinkel
and laying out of a garden by Peter Joseph
Lenné; 1829 work starts on the Roman
Baths by Schinkel from plans by the Crown
3. Justification for Inscription
Prince; 1836-44 construction of the “real”
Roman Baths by Ludwig Persius, modeled
on a Roman house; 1841-42 Hippodrome
laid out by Lenné in the western part of the
park; 1841-43 steam engine hall by Persius;
1842 construction of a pheasant house;
1846 construction of Medieval Watchtower
on Ruinenberg hill by Ferdinand von
Arnim; 1847-52 construction of Belvedere
on Pfingstberg hill; 1851-62 new orangery
built; 1855-58 Lindtstedt Palace built; 1858-
60 gardens of Lindstedt Palace laid out by
Peter Joseph Lenné; 1889-94 construction
of a terrace on the garden side of the New
Palace; 1904 restoration of Dragon House;
1913 terrace laid out at the foot of the
orangery to celebrate the 25th anniversary
of Emperor Wilhelm’s reign; 1934-36
restoration of colonnade and the stone steps
of Sanssouci Palace; 1979-83 reconstruction
of the Sanssouci terraces; 1990 inscription
on the UNESCO World Heritage List; 1997
reconstruction of the Charlottenhof rose
garden.
Characteristics: Today the appearance of
Sanssouci is largely the work of Peter Joseph
Lenné, although those Baroque structures
based on sketches by Frederick the Great were
always preserved and Lenné’s large-scale plan
of 1816 was never put into practice.
Topical Comparison
Summer residence: summer residence
of Frederick the Great, although lacking
extensive working quarters and intended for
a small number of selected companions only.
Used as a summer residence until 1918; no
connection with the town as the garden used
to be walled off; the dominant main axis is
actually a transverse avenue and again does
not relate to the town at all.
Synthesis of gardening styles: The French
Baroque garden was laid out based on
sketches by Frederick the Great himself
and was preserved largely intact over time.
The parterre at the foot of the vineyard was
redesigned in a Baroque style as early as
1840, in Friedrich Wilhelm’s time; 1763 when
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