About this place
Rising above a terraced vineyard on the western edge of Potsdam, Sanssouci was the private retreat of Frederick the Second of Prussia, better known as Frederick the Great. Built between 1745 and 1747 to the king's own sketches by the architect Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, the palace is a masterpiece of the delicate German Rococo style that came to bear Frederick's personal stamp. Its French name means 'without a care', and that was precisely the point. This was not a grand seat of government but a low, single storey villa where a warrior king could escape the ceremony of court to play his flute, tend his gardens, and debate philosophy with visiting thinkers late into the night. Frederick loved the place so deeply that he asked to be buried on its highest terrace beside his greyhounds, a wish finally granted in 1991. Today the palace and its sweeping park form part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Key facts
- 1747 year — Completed as Frederick the Great's carefree summer retreat above the vines
- 6 terraces — Curved vineyard terraces climb the hillside beneath the palace facade
- 1991 year — Frederick was finally laid to rest on the top terrace, over two centuries after his death
📍 Ehrenhof 3, 14469, Potsdam