The summer palace of Frederick II, King of Prussia is a little jewel of just ten rooms, sitting atop a vineyard terraced hill amid a vast parkland outside Potsdam. The monarch's personal taste in the design and decoration of the palace is so pervasive that its style is known as "Frederician Rococo". His feelings for the palace were so strong that he conceived it as "a place that would die with him". He intended to be buried in this place he so loved, but it took until 1991for his wishes to be fulfilled. He now lies in a simple tomb on the highest terrace of the vineyard.
Sanssouci means 'without cares' and the little palace surely brought the king surcease from the pressure of being a warrior king. Reputedly more interested in the arts and music as a young man, these passions are reflected in the decoration and furnishings of the little palace. In the music room, his beloved flute sits in pride of place.
The vast gardens are laid out for pleasant wanderings, and are studded with other Palaces, fountains, pavilions and follies, not least of which is the extravagant Chinese House with its gilded statuary.
Der Alte Fritz was greatly revered by the Prussian peoples, and aside from the military victories which united his disparate territories and made Prussia a Great Power in Europe. He was instrumental in modernizing the Prussian bureaucracy and civil service, and allowed those not of the nobility to rise to the judiciary. Press freedoms were expanded and relatively tolerant religious laws.
Frederick died without children, probably because he preferred sexual relations with those of his own sex. His circle at Sanssousi was exclusively male (though some were married). The story of his proclivities is described in Voltaire's 'Mémoires', aka 'The Private Life of the King of Prussia'. Perhaps the Nazi's had failed to read this treatise before lionizing the King as an exemplar of Aryan manhood!
Sanssouci means 'without cares' and the little palace surely brought the king surcease from the pressure of being a warrior king. Reputedly more interested in the arts and music as a young man, these passions are reflected in the decoration and furnishings of the little palace. In the music room, his beloved flute sits in pride of place.
The vast gardens are laid out for pleasant wanderings, and are studded with other Palaces, fountains, pavilions and follies, not least of which is the extravagant Chinese House with its gilded statuary.
Der Alte Fritz was greatly revered by the Prussian peoples, and aside from the military victories which united his disparate territories and made Prussia a Great Power in Europe. He was instrumental in modernizing the Prussian bureaucracy and civil service, and allowed those not of the nobility to rise to the judiciary. Press freedoms were expanded and relatively tolerant religious laws.
Frederick died without children, probably because he preferred sexual relations with those of his own sex. His circle at Sanssousi was exclusively male (though some were married). The story of his proclivities is described in Voltaire's 'Mémoires', aka 'The Private Life of the King of Prussia'. Perhaps the Nazi's had failed to read this treatise before lionizing the King as an exemplar of Aryan manhood!