We went to the most famous castle in potsdam this weekend...Sanssouci...I copied and pasted some info below cause it is kind of neat that something with so much history is literally minutes away from me...The castle was beautiful, unfortunately we couldn't take pictures on the inside...but the floor plane in kind of like one long hallway with different 'apartments' branching off...you could walk through the whole castle and see every room staying on the same walkway (I dont know if that makes sense) ...as it says below it was built by Fredrick the great... he actually died here and they have the original chair and writing desk where he was found, just a little bit creepy. In the pictures below I posted one of the windmill just to the left of the castle wich was there when the castle was built... apparently there ahve been plays and stories and 'legends' about this windmill, and when I asked Mathias and Amelie what the big deal was I still didnt really understand the expanation as to why it was so important. THEN I realized why.. first of all here is the story.... So This king bought the land for the castle back in the day... apparently the Windmill was supposed to be torn down, but the guy who owned and worked it said no and so it got to stay... so that's it nothing exciting right? big deal... HOWEVER you have to take into account that this happened before the US was even around (in the columbus sense) This windmill guy was like the first rebel, the first person to stand for what he wanted, against government and kings alike and actually get it... Coming from the good ol US of A I forget that people once lived under the law, there were no rebels and the one's that tried to be were killed, no questions asked....so here's to the lowely windmill man, and to Fredrick the great, who was too lazy to care about it, and who inadvertantly opened the door for people standing up for they're rights....
Sanssouci is the former summer palace of
Frederick the Great, King of
Prussia, at
Potsdam, near
Berlin. It is often counted among the German rivals of
Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate
Rococo style and is far smaller than its
French Baroque counterpart, it too is notable for the numerous
temples and
follies in
Sanssouci Park. The palace was designed by
Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff between 1745 and 1747 to fulfil Frederick's need for a private residence where he could relax away from the pomp and ceremony of the
Berlin court. This is emphasized by the palace's name: a French phrase (sans souci) which translates loosely as "without cares" or "carefree" symbolising that the palace was a place for relaxation rather than a seat of power. The palace is little more than a large single-storey
villa—more like the
Château de Marly than Versailles. Containing just ten principal rooms, it was built on the brow of a
terraced hill at the centre of the park. So great was the influence of Frederick's personal taste in the design and decoration of the palace that its style is characterised as "
Frederician Rococo", and so personally did he regard the palace that he conceived it as "a place that would die with him".
[1] Because of a disagreement about the site of the palace from the park Knobelsdorff was fired in 1746.
Jan Bouman, a Dutch architect, finished the project.
During the 19th century, the palace became a residence of
Frederick William IV. He employed the architect
Ludwig Persius to restore and enlarge the palace, while
Ferdinand von Arnim was charged with improving the locality and thus the view from the palace. The town of Potsdam, with its palaces, was a favourite place of residence for the German imperial family until the fall of the
Hohenzollern dynasty in 1918.
Frederick the Great (1712–86).
After
World War II, the palace became a tourist attraction in
East Germany. It was fully maintained with due respect to its historical importance, and was open to the public. Following
German reunification in 1990, the final wish of Frederick came to pass: his body was finally returned to his beloved palace and buried in a
new tomb overlooking the gardens he had created. Sanssouci and its extensive gardens became a
World Heritage Site in 1990 under the protection of
UNESCO;
[2] in 1995, the Foundation for Prussian Palaces and Gardens in
Berlin-
Brandenburg was established to care for Sanssouci and the other former imperial palaces in and around of Berlin. These palaces are now visited by more than two million people a year from all over the world.
This picture has nothing to do with the castle My grandma just sent it and I think it's the cutest...I look insane :) and I love it...
