Sanssouci Palace

Sanssouci Palace stands at the top of a terraced hill in Sanssouci Park, on the western side of Potsdam, about 25 kilometres south-west of central Berlin. It was built for Frederick II of Prussia, Frederick the Great, as a private summer retreat.

Frederick sketched the first ideas himself. The architect Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff began the palace in 1745, and after his dismissal in 1746 the Dutch architect Jan Bouman completed it in 1747. The name is French for without worries, reflecting the king's wish for a place to relax away from court life. Frederick spent much of his time here, playing the flute, writing and hosting guests such as Voltaire. He asked to be buried in a vault on the terrace beside his greyhounds; his wish was carried out only in 1991, after German reunification. The palaces and parks of Potsdam and Berlin were inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1990.

The palace is a single-storey building with a central oval dome and just ten principal rooms, decorated in the ornate style known as Frederician Rococo. The Marble Hall, the concert room and the library are among the highlights. Below the palace, six curved vineyard terraces lead down to the Great Fountain. The surrounding park also holds the New Palace, the Picture Gallery, the Chinese House and the Roman Baths.

The number of palace tickets per day is limited, so buying online in advance is recommended. The park is free to enter. The Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation manages the site, and many park buildings close in winter.

Entry to the palace costs 14 euros on a timed ticket, and the sanssouci+ day ticket at 22 euros covers all the foundation's open palaces in Potsdam on one day, which is the better choice if you also want the New Palace. The flight of steps up the vineyard terraces had 120 steps in Frederick's day and now counts 132, dividing three wide terraces into six.

Two buildings in the park are worth adding. The Picture Gallery, built by Johann Gottfried Büring between 1755 and 1764, is the oldest surviving museum built for a ruler in Germany. Büring also designed the Chinese House in the same years. The New Palace, at the western end of the park, followed about twenty years after Sanssouci and is far larger and built in the Baroque style to display Prussian power. The palaces in the foundation's care draw more than two million visitors a year, so morning time slots in summer go first.