About this place
Just west of Sanssouci Palace, two very different buildings share a hillside. The Historic Windmill traces its roots to a post mill of 1738, replaced between 1787 and 1791 by the Dutch style gallery mill whose silhouette defines the spot today. Legend claims Frederick the Great wanted it demolished for its noise, only for the miller to threaten a lawsuit and win, a tale that became a byword for the rule of law in Prussia. The mill burned down in the last days of the Second World War in April 1945 and was rebuilt from 1983 to 1993; it now grinds flour again and houses a four level exhibition on milling with a gallery view over the park. Beside it stands the Neue Kammern, the New Chambers, an orangery of 1747 by Knobelsdorff that Georg Christian Unger converted into a guest palace for Frederick between 1771 and 1775. Its Jasper Hall and Ovid Gallery, with gilded reliefs from the Metamorphoses, rank among the finest late Rococo interiors in Germany.
Key facts
- 1738 year — A windmill has stood on this hill since 1738, seven years before Sanssouci Palace was begun
- 1993 year — The sails turned again after a ten year reconstruction following the fire of April 1945
- 7 guest apartments — Were fitted into the Neue Kammern when the old orangery became a guest palace in 1771 to 1775
📍 Maulbeerallee 5, 14469, Potsdam