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rheinsbergThis isn't a comprehensive tour guide, but it's what I want to have at my fingertips next time I go to Sanssouci.
Sanssouci Palace was built in 1745-1747, after Fritz had completed his conquest of Silesia (1740-1745). It was his summer residence from April to October.
The main part of the palace has a round structure on each end. The wings that extend from the main part were initially for the servants. They were later expanded and repurposed: the original kitchen wing was turned into the ladies' wing for FW4's queen, and the kitchen moved to the east wing. An extra story was added to each wing.
Fritz was very committed to this being a private home for him, not a public monument. He ended up firing his architect, Knobelsdorff, who wanted to situate the palace at the edge of the terrace, where it could be seen from below. Fritz didn't care about the view others had of him, he only cared about the views he had from inside the palace. Knobelsdorff also wanted to add a basement level and put the main rooms (piano nobile) on top. This would have decreased the dampness problems in the main rooms, and also made the structure more imposing. Since Fritz thought imposing would be a bug rather than a feature, and he was willing to live with the damp in exchange for having a small, intimate home, Knobelsdorff got fired.
The round room on the east end (closest to the grave) is the library.
The round room on the west end is the "Rothenburg Room", after a close confidant of the king, Count Friedrich Rudolf von Rothenburg, who regularly lived in the room until his death in 1751.
The round tower idea was inspired by Rheinsberg, Fritz's country palace 1736-1740, where he renovated an existing building that had one tower that for some reason had to stay, and the way he decided to work around it was to have two symmetrical round towers. He liked Rheinsberg so much (he later described it as the only period in his life when he was happy), he decided to echo it at Sanssouci.
The round dome in the middle of Sanssouci, covering the main reception room, the Marble Hall, was inspired by the dome of the Pantheon in Rome. Fritz was fond of domes inspired by the Pantheon; St. Hedwig's, the Catholic church he commissioned in Berlin (the first Catholic church built in Prussia since the Reformation) has a similar one.
Next to the library is Fritz's bedroom-cum-study. He had it designed in his beloved Frederician Rococo style, but after his death, it was renovated into the new Neoclassical style.
He died in this room, and the chair in which he died is still in display.
Adjacent to his bedroom/study a servant's room, which belonged to Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf, the man who was his valet, chamberlain, secret treasurer, master of his spy ring, unofficial first minister of Prussia, life partner, and possible homosexual (and pretty clearly homoromantic) partner.
Down at the other end of the main part of the palace is Voltaire's room. After their 1753 falling out (see the Voltaire tag), "Frederick had Voltaire's rooms redecorated after he left. They were painted yellow, the colour of envy, and the walls were decorated with grimacing monkeys, proud peacocks and venomous snakes and toads, all attributes of the departed trouble maker." (MacDonogh's biography.) Alternatively, according to some random internet source that I consider equally reliable (MacDonogh not being known for reliability), the room wasn't finished until 1753 and Voltaire never stayed in it.
Either way, it's worth knowing that "monkey" was something Fritz used to call Voltaire. Meaning "mischievous, always causing trouble." It was not a compliment.
Conversely, Voltaire kept a monkey that used to bite him a lotbecause monkeys aren't pets. He called it Luc...except when he was calling it Frédéric II. Apparently he would also refer to Fritz as Luc in letters to friends (not to Fritz's face), and he said, "Fritz is like my monkey; he bites the hand that caresses him."
I don't know if the following anecdote took place in this room, but it took place at one of Fritz's palaces:
Voltaire mocked his own skeletal appearance. It must have been true, or the chambermaids in old Prussia must have been made of strong stuff. On one occasion as he lay in bed, one of these junos mistook him for a heap of dirty linen and picked him up, mattress and all, and threw him on the floor.
The palace was open to the public when Fritz wasn't in residence, and you could walk even through his private rooms as long as you made arrangements to get a guided tour. Goethe, a Fritz fan (he and his friends described themselves as "Fritzisch", "Fritzian", since they didn't care about Prussia but about the man who had made it famous), left this description of his tour, which alludes to the Voltaire room:
Berlin I visited in spring. (...) We were just there for a few days, and I just caught a glimpse here and there like a child does with beautiful rarity box. And you know how much I live by viewing; a thousand lights have been sparked in me. I got pretty close to old Fritz, even, for I had an impression of his character, his gold, silver, marble, monkeys, parrots and torn curtains and have listened to his own dogs bark reasonably about the great man.
Grave
Ever since he designed Sanssouci in 1744, Fritz wanted to be buried in the vault he'd had placed near the palace. Throughout the course of his life, he was very explicit about wanting a quiet, nighttime burial next to his favorite dogs, with no attendees. He left more than one written testament to this effect.
Upon his death on August 17, 1786, his nephew (whom admittedly Fritz had mistreated in ways eerily similar to the ways his father mistreated him) promptly decided to have Fritz buried like a proper Prussian king, in the Garrison Church in Potsdam, in style, next to his father FW.
Fritz's body remained there until WWII, when the Fritz- and FW-worshipping Nazis decided to remove the tombs to safety, because they were worried about the bombing of Berlin.
By order of Hitler, the tombs were moved first to an underground bunker in Potsdam (1943), and then to a salt mine in Thuringia (1945). They were discovered there by an American soldier, and then moved to the Elisabeth Church in Marburg in 1946, as part of Operation Bodysnatch. In 1952, they were moved to Hohenzollern Castle.
After German reunification, Fritz was finally buried according to his original wishes, at midnight August 17, 1991, at Sanssouci. It was very controversial, what with the military guard of honor and the attendance of the German chancellor, and there were demonstrations and counter-demonstrations the next day. News coverage was tremendous, and I saw an estimate that some 80-100,000 people attended.
It's now traditional to put potatoes on Fritz's grave. This is because he spent much of his reign insisting his subjects grow potatoes, because they are a much more efficient crop in terms of yield than grain, Prussia wasn't generally known for its agricultural abundance, and his subjects were reluctant to adopt this strange new crop. FW had tried and failed to introduce them before Fritz. After a 46-year reign, Fritz had built enough momentum that shortly after his death, they really took off and became a staple crop.
There is an unconfirmed legend that one of Fritz's methods for popularizing potatoes was to grow them on his own land, post guards around the fields to protect them (thus signaling their value), and have the guards look the other way when people came to steal them.
We've been unable to determine how or when the tradition of putting potatoes on Fritz's grave arose.
- The large statue of white marble by his grave depicts Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, and Zephyr, the god of soft western breezes. At the base of the statue is inscribed "Quand je serai la, je serai sans souci." "When I am there [in the grave], I will be without cares."
If you consider that he named his palace "without cares" and proceeded to live a highly stressed, workaholic life there as well as everywhere else, you become aware that this is a man who wanted to be able to relax, but didn't know how. And someone who on numerous occasions expressed the idea that he would welcome death when it came. Regarding which, it's worth adding, he didn't believe there was any kind of afterlife or immortal soul, and that was why he was looking forward to it.
Near the palace and the grave is a green trellis, inside which stands a bronze statue, called Antinous during Fritz's time. You can read all about that statue here.
Dog graves: Alcmene, Thisbe, Diane, Phillis, Thisbe, Alcmene, Biche, Diane, Pax, Superbe, Amourette. The stones are so much more weathered because they've been there since the 18th century, unlike Fritz's 1991 gravestone.
Biche and Alcmene were his two favorite dogs. Biche was captured by the Hungarians during the Battle of Soor in 1745, then returned. Fritz exchanged letters on behalf of Biche with his sister Wilhelmine, who was writing to Biche on behalf of her dog (spaniel), Folichon.
Fountain
The fountain at the base of the terraced hill behind Sanssouci was installed in Fritz's time, but not entirely as he designed it. That jet of spouting water in the center was something he very much wanted and spent a lot of money on, but none of his greatest minds could figure it out. Decades later, he and a visiting Casanova had this exchange:
“But,” he [Fritz] said, “the gardens of Versailles are much finer.”
“Yes, sire, but that is chiefly on account of the fountains.”
“True, but it is not my fault; there is no water here. I have spent more than three hundred thousand crowns to get water, but unsuccessfully.”
“Three hundred thousand crowns, sire! If your majesty had spent them all at once, the fountains should be here.”
“Oh, oh! I see you are acquainted with hydraulics.”
I could not say that he was mistaken, for fear of offending him, so I simply bent my head, which might mean either yes or no. Thank God the king did not trouble to test my knowledge of the science of hydraulics, with which I was totally unacquainted.
At the time, Fritz wrote to Voltaire to express his frustration at Euler's failure to come up with a system to propel water into the air:
"I wanted to have a water jet in my garden: Euler calculated the force of the wheels necessary to raise the water to a reservoir, from where it should fall back through channels, finally spurting out in Sanssouci. My mill was carried out geometrically and could not raise a mouthful of water closer than fifty paces to the reservoir. Vanity of vanities! Vanity of geometry!"
The jet of water was only introduced in 1841-2, using a steam engine.
François Gaspard Adam was Fritz's principal sculptor, and many of his works are to be found at Sanssouci. Among them are the Flora and Zephyr statue near Fritz's grave (see above), the Minerva, Apollo, Juno statues surrounding the fountain, and the Venus and Apollo inside the palace.
New Palace
The New Palace was built starting in 1763. It was not one of Fritz's own residences, but rather was used to host important visitors, especially since Sanssouci was so small. Built at the end of the Seven Years' War, which Prussia had won, it was also meant to show off the power and prestige of Prussia, which was just becoming a first-rate power in Europe.
Related to this is the inscription "Nec soli cedit." It means "Nor does it yield to the sun," where "it" is Prussia and "sun" is France. Prussia had first become a kingdom during the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King. France was the dominant power in Europe at the time. When FW came to power, he wanted to show that he did not consider Prussia inferior to France, so he made "Non soli cedit" the motto of the Prussian army and put it on the standards.
Then Fritz, who was a cultural and literary Francophile, came to power and replaced the motto with "Pro Patria et Gloria," which makes perfect sense if you consider that his first major act as king was to invade Silesia, to acquire its riches for his kingdom as well as (and perhaps primarily) to make a name for himself.
Then, during the Seven Years' War, Fritz made war with the French, and handed them their most humiliating defeat in a long time at Rossbach. Accordingly, when setting up the New Palace after winning the war, he went with "Nec soli cedit" as the motto.
Because the New Palace was only intended to house guests, and never to be a royal residence, there is no grand staircase or the like public space, just smaller staircase leading to private guest apartments. The theater, which is considered one of the best parts of the palace, is notable for not having a royal box, because Fritz preferred to sit in the audience.
Because Fritz liked to dictate every aspect of everything he cared about, without always having the necessary expertise, he ignored his architects' insistence that there needed to be a very deep basement because of the high water table, and thus flooding was a problem in the palace until the twentieth century.
He commissioned a painting by Pompeo Batoni of Alexander and Hephaistion, with Hephaistion putting his hand on Alexander's wrist. It was commissioned in 1763 and not finished until 1775, but Fritz considered it so important that he kept the space for it vacant, in the Blue Antechamber, which led to his apartments.
The fresco in the Marble Hall is by Charles Vanloo, and depicts Ganymede being introduced to Olympus.
Temple of Friendship
The Temple of Friendship was commissioned by Fritz in memory of his favorite sister, Wilhelmine, ten years after she died in 1758. They had an incredibly close relationship, intensified by growing up together in an abusive home and being only three years apart in age.
There is a statue of her inside the temple, holding a book, and her dog Folichon (see above). The statue is based on this portrait by court painter Pesne. The medallions on the columns represent pairs of friends from antiquity:
- Pirithous and Theseus
- Heracles and Philoctetes
- Euryalus and Nisus
- Pylades and Orestes
All of these have been understood in a context of Greek homoeroticism and have become icons of same-sex love since antiquity. Fritz was fond of casting himself and his friends and loved ones in terms of these pairs.
Orestes was the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. After his mother killed her husband for killing their daughter Iphigenia, Orestes avenged his father by killing his mother. He was pursued by the Furies for the crime of exile. Pylades supports him in this endeavor, as well as his bloody attempts to kidnap and murder other family members. He was considered a role model for absolute loyalty to his friend.
Pirithous was the wholly mortal friend of the more famous Greek hero Theseus, son of Poseidon. He accompanied Theseus on several of his adventures, most notably on their quest to the realm of Hades to kidnap Persephone as a bride for Pirithous. They were captured and imprisoned together. When Heracles entered Hades on his own quest, he was able to free Theseus, but not Pirithous, who remained forever trapped, and separated from his friend.
Philoctetes was a friend of Heracles. When Heracles was dying in agony from a poisoned shirt given to him by the centaur Nessus, no one would light his funeral pyre except Philoctetes. So he was given the bow and arrows of Heracles.
Since he was one of the suitors of Helen, he accompanied the Greeks to Troy. On the way, he was wounded in the foot--by a snake bite, according to one variant of the tale--and the wound festered so badly no one could stand the smell. So the Greeks left him on the island of Lemnos while they went off to attack Troy.
After ten years, the Greeks realized there was a prophecy that said they needed the bow and arrows of Heracles. So they went to retrieve them, and found Philoctetes still alive, and unwilling to give them up (he was understandably quite angry at the Greeks).
Eventually, a deified Heracles intervened and told Philoctetes to go to Troy. He was healed, and participated in the sack of Troy.
Euryalus and Nisus, in the Aeneid, were companions of Aeneas and very close friends. Vergil used the language of erotic poetry to depict their relationship. They died together on a heroic raid of the enemy camp.
Neptune Grotto
The Neptune Grotto was commissioned by Fritz in the 1750s. It was part of a design to have elaborate fountains throughout the grounds, which were never realized at the time, because the engineering wasn't up to the vision. (See above.)
Picture Gallery
The Picture Gallery just to the east of Sanssouci was set up in the 1760s, because Fritz was collecting more and larger paintings than would fit in the palace itself. Because his palace was so small, he frequently found himself having to add more buildings on the palace grounds for this or that purpose.
Many of the paintings were removed when the Altes Museum was opened in the early 19th century. Then they were returned to Sanssouci a hundred years later. Then moved to Rheinsberg during WWII, where they were largely confiscated by the Russians. Many were returned by the Russians in the 50s, but some still remain in Russia.
New Chambers
Another building that had to be added were the New Chambers, since there weren't enough rooms for visitors in the main palace. Just as the picture gallery replaced a greenhouse where Fritz grew fruit, the New Chambers were renovated from an orangery where he grew specifically oranges. The New Chambers and picture gallery lie on the west and east of the palace, respectively, and are architecturally and visually very similar. The orangery building was set up in 1745, and the renovation into guest rooms took place in the early 1770s.
Antique Temple
The Antique Temple, near the Friendship Temple and the New Palace (see above), is a small enclosed building meant to house Fritz's art collection of tangible objects, like coins and antiques. It was a museum open to the public until about a hundred years ago, at which point the Hohenzollerns started using it as a mausoleum and not admitting visitors.
Keith house
At Lennéstrasse 9 is the house of George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal (1692/3-1778), a close friend of Fritz in his old age. Fritz gave him a plot of land on the Sanssouci grounds and helped design his house. His brother was Field Marshal James Francis Edward Keith, who was killed in Fritz's service at Hochkirch in 1758. This Rheinsberg post has more about the Keith brothers (as well as some other Keiths in Fritz's life).
Peter Joseph Lenné, after whom the street is named, was a garden architect who was responsible for the royal gardens in Potsdam, including the Marly Garden (see below), for much of the 19th century.
Chinese House
The Chinese House was built during the Seven Years' War as a reflection of Fritz's interest in the Chinoiserie style fashionable in the 18th century--incorporating elements of Chinese art and architecture into European styles. Compare the Dragon House which he had built in Sanssouci park in the early 1770s in the style of a pagoda.
Fritz and Marischal Keith used to eat together at the Chinese House, after Keith's health made it difficult for him to make the trip up the hill to the main palace of Sanssouci. Fritz would come down the hill and meet him halfway.
Historic Mill
Near the palace is a windmill. The first mill on this site was constructed under FW, a few years before Fritz had his palace at Sanssouci built. Much later, a legend grew up that Fritz hated having the mill so close to the palace, and threatened to take it away from the miller, who opposed him by threatening to have recourse to the Supreme Court in Berlin. This legend appears to have arisen out of confusion with another, actually documented, conflict Fritz had about a different mill. A lawsuit arose between a peasant miller named Arnold, near Küstrin, and a local noble. The court decided in favor of the noble. Fritz tried to browbeat the judges into deciding in favor of the "honest" miller, and when they refused, forcibly override the decision himself. It later turned out the miller was not so honest after all, and the judges had been right and Fritz wrong. But Fritz gained a reputation throughout his country and even outside of it as a monarch who defended the little people against the oppressive nobles.
The original mill is no longer standing; a few mills have come and gone on that spot. The current one is a reproduction of the one that was built circa 1800.
Fredersdorf restaurant
This restaurant, located near the New Palace, is named after Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf (see above).
Unfortunately, the restaurant itself seems to be a letdown. I haven't been, but 44 reviews on TripAdvisor with an average rating of 2 stars and numerous detailed reviews agreeing on poor service, tasteless food that's been reheated (often badly) rather than prepared on site, and priced like a high-end restaurant doesn't bode well. Apparently it might be worth getting drinks there just for the location, but otherwise, everyone advises you skip it. So unless that's changed (bad reviews go up to at least 2017), I can't recommend it.
Friedenskirche
The Friedenskirche is a Protestant church, commissioned by Friedrich Wilhelm IV, in the 1840s. He, his wife, and his parents, including FW3, are buried inside the church. In the Kaiser Friedrich Mausoleum on the north side, Friedrich III and Friedrich Wilhelm I are buried. FW1 was moved here in 1991 at the same time Fritz was moved to the Sanssouci plot next to his dogs. His original black marble sarcophagus was destroyed in 1945, and the current one is a copy.
You should definitely not spit on FW's coffin when anyone is looking.
Marly Garden
Adjacent to the Friedenskirche is the Marly Garden. It was created by Friedrich Wilhelm I as a kitchen garden and pleasure garden, and used by Fritz as a kitchen garden. It was named, ironically, after Louis XIV's much more luxurious Marly-le-Roi palace.
Friedrich Wilhlem IV, who had the Friedenskirche built in the 1840s, converted the Marly Garden from a kitchen garden to a landscape garden, now that it was the way through which one entered the Friedenskirche. He added the sculptures that now adorn it, such as the Flora statue, the girl with parrot (on the blue and white striped column), the naiad with water bowl, and the boy with bird's nest.
See also the UNESCO description of the history of the notable elements of the palace and grounds.
Sanssouci Palace was built in 1745-1747, after Fritz had completed his conquest of Silesia (1740-1745). It was his summer residence from April to October.
The main part of the palace has a round structure on each end. The wings that extend from the main part were initially for the servants. They were later expanded and repurposed: the original kitchen wing was turned into the ladies' wing for FW4's queen, and the kitchen moved to the east wing. An extra story was added to each wing.
Fritz was very committed to this being a private home for him, not a public monument. He ended up firing his architect, Knobelsdorff, who wanted to situate the palace at the edge of the terrace, where it could be seen from below. Fritz didn't care about the view others had of him, he only cared about the views he had from inside the palace. Knobelsdorff also wanted to add a basement level and put the main rooms (piano nobile) on top. This would have decreased the dampness problems in the main rooms, and also made the structure more imposing. Since Fritz thought imposing would be a bug rather than a feature, and he was willing to live with the damp in exchange for having a small, intimate home, Knobelsdorff got fired.
The round room on the east end (closest to the grave) is the library.
The round room on the west end is the "Rothenburg Room", after a close confidant of the king, Count Friedrich Rudolf von Rothenburg, who regularly lived in the room until his death in 1751.
The round tower idea was inspired by Rheinsberg, Fritz's country palace 1736-1740, where he renovated an existing building that had one tower that for some reason had to stay, and the way he decided to work around it was to have two symmetrical round towers. He liked Rheinsberg so much (he later described it as the only period in his life when he was happy), he decided to echo it at Sanssouci.
The round dome in the middle of Sanssouci, covering the main reception room, the Marble Hall, was inspired by the dome of the Pantheon in Rome. Fritz was fond of domes inspired by the Pantheon; St. Hedwig's, the Catholic church he commissioned in Berlin (the first Catholic church built in Prussia since the Reformation) has a similar one.
Next to the library is Fritz's bedroom-cum-study. He had it designed in his beloved Frederician Rococo style, but after his death, it was renovated into the new Neoclassical style.
He died in this room, and the chair in which he died is still in display.
Adjacent to his bedroom/study a servant's room, which belonged to Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf, the man who was his valet, chamberlain, secret treasurer, master of his spy ring, unofficial first minister of Prussia, life partner, and possible homosexual (and pretty clearly homoromantic) partner.
Down at the other end of the main part of the palace is Voltaire's room. After their 1753 falling out (see the Voltaire tag), "Frederick had Voltaire's rooms redecorated after he left. They were painted yellow, the colour of envy, and the walls were decorated with grimacing monkeys, proud peacocks and venomous snakes and toads, all attributes of the departed trouble maker." (MacDonogh's biography.) Alternatively, according to some random internet source that I consider equally reliable (MacDonogh not being known for reliability), the room wasn't finished until 1753 and Voltaire never stayed in it.
Either way, it's worth knowing that "monkey" was something Fritz used to call Voltaire. Meaning "mischievous, always causing trouble." It was not a compliment.
Conversely, Voltaire kept a monkey that used to bite him a lot
I don't know if the following anecdote took place in this room, but it took place at one of Fritz's palaces:
Voltaire mocked his own skeletal appearance. It must have been true, or the chambermaids in old Prussia must have been made of strong stuff. On one occasion as he lay in bed, one of these junos mistook him for a heap of dirty linen and picked him up, mattress and all, and threw him on the floor.
The palace was open to the public when Fritz wasn't in residence, and you could walk even through his private rooms as long as you made arrangements to get a guided tour. Goethe, a Fritz fan (he and his friends described themselves as "Fritzisch", "Fritzian", since they didn't care about Prussia but about the man who had made it famous), left this description of his tour, which alludes to the Voltaire room:
Berlin I visited in spring. (...) We were just there for a few days, and I just caught a glimpse here and there like a child does with beautiful rarity box. And you know how much I live by viewing; a thousand lights have been sparked in me. I got pretty close to old Fritz, even, for I had an impression of his character, his gold, silver, marble, monkeys, parrots and torn curtains and have listened to his own dogs bark reasonably about the great man.
Grave
Ever since he designed Sanssouci in 1744, Fritz wanted to be buried in the vault he'd had placed near the palace. Throughout the course of his life, he was very explicit about wanting a quiet, nighttime burial next to his favorite dogs, with no attendees. He left more than one written testament to this effect.
Upon his death on August 17, 1786, his nephew (whom admittedly Fritz had mistreated in ways eerily similar to the ways his father mistreated him) promptly decided to have Fritz buried like a proper Prussian king, in the Garrison Church in Potsdam, in style, next to his father FW.
Fritz's body remained there until WWII, when the Fritz- and FW-worshipping Nazis decided to remove the tombs to safety, because they were worried about the bombing of Berlin.
By order of Hitler, the tombs were moved first to an underground bunker in Potsdam (1943), and then to a salt mine in Thuringia (1945). They were discovered there by an American soldier, and then moved to the Elisabeth Church in Marburg in 1946, as part of Operation Bodysnatch. In 1952, they were moved to Hohenzollern Castle.
After German reunification, Fritz was finally buried according to his original wishes, at midnight August 17, 1991, at Sanssouci. It was very controversial, what with the military guard of honor and the attendance of the German chancellor, and there were demonstrations and counter-demonstrations the next day. News coverage was tremendous, and I saw an estimate that some 80-100,000 people attended.
It's now traditional to put potatoes on Fritz's grave. This is because he spent much of his reign insisting his subjects grow potatoes, because they are a much more efficient crop in terms of yield than grain, Prussia wasn't generally known for its agricultural abundance, and his subjects were reluctant to adopt this strange new crop. FW had tried and failed to introduce them before Fritz. After a 46-year reign, Fritz had built enough momentum that shortly after his death, they really took off and became a staple crop.
There is an unconfirmed legend that one of Fritz's methods for popularizing potatoes was to grow them on his own land, post guards around the fields to protect them (thus signaling their value), and have the guards look the other way when people came to steal them.
We've been unable to determine how or when the tradition of putting potatoes on Fritz's grave arose.
- The large statue of white marble by his grave depicts Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, and Zephyr, the god of soft western breezes. At the base of the statue is inscribed "Quand je serai la, je serai sans souci." "When I am there [in the grave], I will be without cares."
If you consider that he named his palace "without cares" and proceeded to live a highly stressed, workaholic life there as well as everywhere else, you become aware that this is a man who wanted to be able to relax, but didn't know how. And someone who on numerous occasions expressed the idea that he would welcome death when it came. Regarding which, it's worth adding, he didn't believe there was any kind of afterlife or immortal soul, and that was why he was looking forward to it.
Near the palace and the grave is a green trellis, inside which stands a bronze statue, called Antinous during Fritz's time. You can read all about that statue here.
Dog graves: Alcmene, Thisbe, Diane, Phillis, Thisbe, Alcmene, Biche, Diane, Pax, Superbe, Amourette. The stones are so much more weathered because they've been there since the 18th century, unlike Fritz's 1991 gravestone.
Biche and Alcmene were his two favorite dogs. Biche was captured by the Hungarians during the Battle of Soor in 1745, then returned. Fritz exchanged letters on behalf of Biche with his sister Wilhelmine, who was writing to Biche on behalf of her dog (spaniel), Folichon.
Fountain
The fountain at the base of the terraced hill behind Sanssouci was installed in Fritz's time, but not entirely as he designed it. That jet of spouting water in the center was something he very much wanted and spent a lot of money on, but none of his greatest minds could figure it out. Decades later, he and a visiting Casanova had this exchange:
“But,” he [Fritz] said, “the gardens of Versailles are much finer.”
“Yes, sire, but that is chiefly on account of the fountains.”
“True, but it is not my fault; there is no water here. I have spent more than three hundred thousand crowns to get water, but unsuccessfully.”
“Three hundred thousand crowns, sire! If your majesty had spent them all at once, the fountains should be here.”
“Oh, oh! I see you are acquainted with hydraulics.”
I could not say that he was mistaken, for fear of offending him, so I simply bent my head, which might mean either yes or no. Thank God the king did not trouble to test my knowledge of the science of hydraulics, with which I was totally unacquainted.
At the time, Fritz wrote to Voltaire to express his frustration at Euler's failure to come up with a system to propel water into the air:
"I wanted to have a water jet in my garden: Euler calculated the force of the wheels necessary to raise the water to a reservoir, from where it should fall back through channels, finally spurting out in Sanssouci. My mill was carried out geometrically and could not raise a mouthful of water closer than fifty paces to the reservoir. Vanity of vanities! Vanity of geometry!"
The jet of water was only introduced in 1841-2, using a steam engine.
François Gaspard Adam was Fritz's principal sculptor, and many of his works are to be found at Sanssouci. Among them are the Flora and Zephyr statue near Fritz's grave (see above), the Minerva, Apollo, Juno statues surrounding the fountain, and the Venus and Apollo inside the palace.
New Palace
The New Palace was built starting in 1763. It was not one of Fritz's own residences, but rather was used to host important visitors, especially since Sanssouci was so small. Built at the end of the Seven Years' War, which Prussia had won, it was also meant to show off the power and prestige of Prussia, which was just becoming a first-rate power in Europe.
Related to this is the inscription "Nec soli cedit." It means "Nor does it yield to the sun," where "it" is Prussia and "sun" is France. Prussia had first become a kingdom during the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King. France was the dominant power in Europe at the time. When FW came to power, he wanted to show that he did not consider Prussia inferior to France, so he made "Non soli cedit" the motto of the Prussian army and put it on the standards.
Then Fritz, who was a cultural and literary Francophile, came to power and replaced the motto with "Pro Patria et Gloria," which makes perfect sense if you consider that his first major act as king was to invade Silesia, to acquire its riches for his kingdom as well as (and perhaps primarily) to make a name for himself.
Then, during the Seven Years' War, Fritz made war with the French, and handed them their most humiliating defeat in a long time at Rossbach. Accordingly, when setting up the New Palace after winning the war, he went with "Nec soli cedit" as the motto.
Because the New Palace was only intended to house guests, and never to be a royal residence, there is no grand staircase or the like public space, just smaller staircase leading to private guest apartments. The theater, which is considered one of the best parts of the palace, is notable for not having a royal box, because Fritz preferred to sit in the audience.
Because Fritz liked to dictate every aspect of everything he cared about, without always having the necessary expertise, he ignored his architects' insistence that there needed to be a very deep basement because of the high water table, and thus flooding was a problem in the palace until the twentieth century.
He commissioned a painting by Pompeo Batoni of Alexander and Hephaistion, with Hephaistion putting his hand on Alexander's wrist. It was commissioned in 1763 and not finished until 1775, but Fritz considered it so important that he kept the space for it vacant, in the Blue Antechamber, which led to his apartments.
The fresco in the Marble Hall is by Charles Vanloo, and depicts Ganymede being introduced to Olympus.
Temple of Friendship
The Temple of Friendship was commissioned by Fritz in memory of his favorite sister, Wilhelmine, ten years after she died in 1758. They had an incredibly close relationship, intensified by growing up together in an abusive home and being only three years apart in age.
There is a statue of her inside the temple, holding a book, and her dog Folichon (see above). The statue is based on this portrait by court painter Pesne. The medallions on the columns represent pairs of friends from antiquity:
- Pirithous and Theseus
- Heracles and Philoctetes
- Euryalus and Nisus
- Pylades and Orestes
All of these have been understood in a context of Greek homoeroticism and have become icons of same-sex love since antiquity. Fritz was fond of casting himself and his friends and loved ones in terms of these pairs.
Orestes was the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. After his mother killed her husband for killing their daughter Iphigenia, Orestes avenged his father by killing his mother. He was pursued by the Furies for the crime of exile. Pylades supports him in this endeavor, as well as his bloody attempts to kidnap and murder other family members. He was considered a role model for absolute loyalty to his friend.
Pirithous was the wholly mortal friend of the more famous Greek hero Theseus, son of Poseidon. He accompanied Theseus on several of his adventures, most notably on their quest to the realm of Hades to kidnap Persephone as a bride for Pirithous. They were captured and imprisoned together. When Heracles entered Hades on his own quest, he was able to free Theseus, but not Pirithous, who remained forever trapped, and separated from his friend.
Philoctetes was a friend of Heracles. When Heracles was dying in agony from a poisoned shirt given to him by the centaur Nessus, no one would light his funeral pyre except Philoctetes. So he was given the bow and arrows of Heracles.
Since he was one of the suitors of Helen, he accompanied the Greeks to Troy. On the way, he was wounded in the foot--by a snake bite, according to one variant of the tale--and the wound festered so badly no one could stand the smell. So the Greeks left him on the island of Lemnos while they went off to attack Troy.
After ten years, the Greeks realized there was a prophecy that said they needed the bow and arrows of Heracles. So they went to retrieve them, and found Philoctetes still alive, and unwilling to give them up (he was understandably quite angry at the Greeks).
Eventually, a deified Heracles intervened and told Philoctetes to go to Troy. He was healed, and participated in the sack of Troy.
Euryalus and Nisus, in the Aeneid, were companions of Aeneas and very close friends. Vergil used the language of erotic poetry to depict their relationship. They died together on a heroic raid of the enemy camp.
Neptune Grotto
The Neptune Grotto was commissioned by Fritz in the 1750s. It was part of a design to have elaborate fountains throughout the grounds, which were never realized at the time, because the engineering wasn't up to the vision. (See above.)
Picture Gallery
The Picture Gallery just to the east of Sanssouci was set up in the 1760s, because Fritz was collecting more and larger paintings than would fit in the palace itself. Because his palace was so small, he frequently found himself having to add more buildings on the palace grounds for this or that purpose.
Many of the paintings were removed when the Altes Museum was opened in the early 19th century. Then they were returned to Sanssouci a hundred years later. Then moved to Rheinsberg during WWII, where they were largely confiscated by the Russians. Many were returned by the Russians in the 50s, but some still remain in Russia.
New Chambers
Another building that had to be added were the New Chambers, since there weren't enough rooms for visitors in the main palace. Just as the picture gallery replaced a greenhouse where Fritz grew fruit, the New Chambers were renovated from an orangery where he grew specifically oranges. The New Chambers and picture gallery lie on the west and east of the palace, respectively, and are architecturally and visually very similar. The orangery building was set up in 1745, and the renovation into guest rooms took place in the early 1770s.
Antique Temple
The Antique Temple, near the Friendship Temple and the New Palace (see above), is a small enclosed building meant to house Fritz's art collection of tangible objects, like coins and antiques. It was a museum open to the public until about a hundred years ago, at which point the Hohenzollerns started using it as a mausoleum and not admitting visitors.
Keith house
At Lennéstrasse 9 is the house of George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal (1692/3-1778), a close friend of Fritz in his old age. Fritz gave him a plot of land on the Sanssouci grounds and helped design his house. His brother was Field Marshal James Francis Edward Keith, who was killed in Fritz's service at Hochkirch in 1758. This Rheinsberg post has more about the Keith brothers (as well as some other Keiths in Fritz's life).
Peter Joseph Lenné, after whom the street is named, was a garden architect who was responsible for the royal gardens in Potsdam, including the Marly Garden (see below), for much of the 19th century.
Chinese House
The Chinese House was built during the Seven Years' War as a reflection of Fritz's interest in the Chinoiserie style fashionable in the 18th century--incorporating elements of Chinese art and architecture into European styles. Compare the Dragon House which he had built in Sanssouci park in the early 1770s in the style of a pagoda.
Fritz and Marischal Keith used to eat together at the Chinese House, after Keith's health made it difficult for him to make the trip up the hill to the main palace of Sanssouci. Fritz would come down the hill and meet him halfway.
Historic Mill
Near the palace is a windmill. The first mill on this site was constructed under FW, a few years before Fritz had his palace at Sanssouci built. Much later, a legend grew up that Fritz hated having the mill so close to the palace, and threatened to take it away from the miller, who opposed him by threatening to have recourse to the Supreme Court in Berlin. This legend appears to have arisen out of confusion with another, actually documented, conflict Fritz had about a different mill. A lawsuit arose between a peasant miller named Arnold, near Küstrin, and a local noble. The court decided in favor of the noble. Fritz tried to browbeat the judges into deciding in favor of the "honest" miller, and when they refused, forcibly override the decision himself. It later turned out the miller was not so honest after all, and the judges had been right and Fritz wrong. But Fritz gained a reputation throughout his country and even outside of it as a monarch who defended the little people against the oppressive nobles.
The original mill is no longer standing; a few mills have come and gone on that spot. The current one is a reproduction of the one that was built circa 1800.
Fredersdorf restaurant
This restaurant, located near the New Palace, is named after Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf (see above).
Unfortunately, the restaurant itself seems to be a letdown. I haven't been, but 44 reviews on TripAdvisor with an average rating of 2 stars and numerous detailed reviews agreeing on poor service, tasteless food that's been reheated (often badly) rather than prepared on site, and priced like a high-end restaurant doesn't bode well. Apparently it might be worth getting drinks there just for the location, but otherwise, everyone advises you skip it. So unless that's changed (bad reviews go up to at least 2017), I can't recommend it.
Friedenskirche
The Friedenskirche is a Protestant church, commissioned by Friedrich Wilhelm IV, in the 1840s. He, his wife, and his parents, including FW3, are buried inside the church. In the Kaiser Friedrich Mausoleum on the north side, Friedrich III and Friedrich Wilhelm I are buried. FW1 was moved here in 1991 at the same time Fritz was moved to the Sanssouci plot next to his dogs. His original black marble sarcophagus was destroyed in 1945, and the current one is a copy.
You should definitely not spit on FW's coffin when anyone is looking.
Marly Garden
Adjacent to the Friedenskirche is the Marly Garden. It was created by Friedrich Wilhelm I as a kitchen garden and pleasure garden, and used by Fritz as a kitchen garden. It was named, ironically, after Louis XIV's much more luxurious Marly-le-Roi palace.
Friedrich Wilhlem IV, who had the Friedenskirche built in the 1840s, converted the Marly Garden from a kitchen garden to a landscape garden, now that it was the way through which one entered the Friedenskirche. He added the sculptures that now adorn it, such as the Flora statue, the girl with parrot (on the blue and white striped column), the naiad with water bowl, and the boy with bird's nest.
See also the UNESCO description of the history of the notable elements of the palace and grounds.
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Date: 2020-02-25 03:03 pm (UTC)What I most regret missing out on is the Antinous statue. I knew who Katte was. I knew who Antinous was. I was RIGHT THERE! I stood at the grave for quite some time. But I had no idea about the statue.
I was even in the Altes Museum and saw the original bronze and had no idea what I was looking at.
Must...go...back...