Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
could live “without cares” - “sans souci” in the French spoken in court. he task was
entrusted to architect Georg von Knobelsdorff, who had already proved himself on
other projects in Potsdam and Berlin.
Schloss Sanssouci
, on a hill overlooking the
town, took three years to complete, while the extensive parklands were laid out over
the following five years. As a finishing touch Frederick ordered the construction of the
Neues Palais
at the western end of the park, to mark the end of the Seven Years' War.
Numerous additions over the following hundred and fifty years or so included the
Orangerie
. he park is most beautiful in spring, when the trees are in leaf and the
flowers in bloom, and least crowded on weekdays.
INFORMATION AND TICKETS
Park entrance
Entrance to the park itself is free, although
a €2 donation is suggested.
Combination tickets
if you plan to visit several buildings,
consider a combination ticket - a Premium-Tageskarte
(€19), available only at Schloss Sanssouci, allows entry to all
Park buildings. The regular Tageskarte (€15) is sold at all
palaces, and the visitors' centre, and gives access to all
buildings in Park Sanssouci except Schloss Sanssouci itself.
Despite calling themselves
(day tickets), both
the above are valid for two consecutive days.
Information
The main visitors' centre for the park (daily:
March-Oct 8.30am-6pm; Nov-March 8.30am-5pm;
T
0331 969 42 00,
W
spsg.de) is by the historic windmill
(see p.171). The Grünes Gitter, which provides a
southeastern entrance to the park, also has an information
kiosk.
Tageskarten
11
Friedenskirche
Late April & early Oct Mon-Sat 11am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm; May-Sept Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun noon-6pm; mid-Oct to late April
Sat 11am-4pm, Sun 11.30am-4pm • Free
Immediately north of the Grünes Gitter entrance lies the 1850 Italianate
Friedenskirche
, designed by Persius for Friedrich Wilhelm IV. With its 39m-high
campanile and lakeside setting, it conjures up the southern European atmosphere that
Friedrich Wilhelm strove for by using the St Clemente Basilica in Rome as a model,
and with the design centred on the magnificent Byzantine apse mosaic from Murano.
Adjoining the church, the domed Hohenzollern mausoleum contains the tombs of
Friedrich Wilhelm IV and his wife Elizabeth, and Friedrich III and his wife Victoria.
he garden to the west is the
Marly-Garten
, once the kitchen garden of Friedrich I,
who named it, with intentional irony, after Louis XIV's luxurious Marly park.
Schloss Sanssouci
Schloss Sanssouci
Tues-Sun: April-Oct 9am-6pm; Nov-March 10am-5pm; guided tours every 20min, tickets go on sale at
9am - arrive early as demand is high • April-Oct €8; Nov-March €12
Damenflügel
May-Oct Sat & Sun 10am-6pm • €2
To approach
Schloss Sanssouci
as Frederick the Great might have done, make for the
eighteenth-century
obelisk
on Schopenhauerstrasse. Beyond, Hauptallee runs through
the ornate Knobelsdorff-designed
Obelisk-Portal
- two clusters of pillars flanked by the
goddesses Flora and Pomona - to the
Grosse Fontäne
, the largest of the park's many
fountains, around which stand a host of Classical statues, notably Venus and Mercury.
he approach to the Schloss itself leads up through terraced ranks of vines that are
among the northernmost in Germany.
Frederick had definite ideas about what he wanted and worked closely with Knobelsdorff
on the palace design, which was to be a place where the king, who had no great love for his
capital, Berlin, or his wife Elizabeth Christine, could escape both. It's a surprisingly modest
one-storey Baroque affair, topped by an oxidized green dome and ornamental statues,
looking out over the vine terraces towards the high-rises of central Potsdam.
he
interior
of Schloss Sanssouci can only be visited by
guided tour
. Once inside,
you'll find a frenzy of Rococo in the twelve rooms where Frederick lived and
entertained his guests - a process that usually entailed quarrelling with them. he most
eye-catching rooms are the opulent
Marmorsaal
(Marble Hall) and the
Konzertzimmer
(Concert Room), where the flute-playing king forced eminent musicians to play his
own works on concert evenings. Frederick's favourite haunt was his library where,
