Sansouci 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 Sansouci 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 Sansouci 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 Picture Gallery (German:Bildergalerie) in the park of Sansouci palace in Potsdam was built in 1755–1764 during the reign of
Frederick II of Prussia under the supervision of Johann Gottfried Büring.
The Picture Gallery is situated east of the palace and is the oldest extant museum built for a ruler in Germany.
Frederick II was a passionate collector of paintings. In his youth, he preferred the contemporary French art of the Rococo,
and the walls of his rooms in Sansouci were adorned with paintings of his favorite artist Antoine Watteau. After his accession to the throne in 1740,
the king became increasingly interested in history paintings, which were highly regarded at his time.
Especially, he collected works of renaissance, mannerism and Baroque art, mostly from Italian and Flemish artists.
Due to the opening of the Altes Museum in Berlin in 1829, about fifty paintings were transferred there.
Among these were the Leda by Correggio, three paintings by Rembrandt, some by Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, and Antoine Watteau.
Also, all the marble statues were moved.
The New Chambers in Sansouci Park, Potsdam, were constructed for King Frederick the Great of Prussia from 1771 to 1775.
The building, which stands to the west of Sansouci Palace, serves as a complement to the Picture Gallery, which lies to the east.
Both buildings flank the summer palace.
The Chinese House (German: Chinesisches Haus) is a garden pavilion in Sansouci Park in Potsdam, Germany.
Frederick the Great had it built, about seven hundred metres southwest of the Sansouci Summer Palace, to adorn his flower and vegetable garden.
The garden architect was Johann Gottfried Büring, who between 1755 and 1764 designed the pavilion in the then-popular style of Chinoiserie,
a mixture of ornamental rococo elements and parts of Chinese architecture.
The unusually long building time of nine years is attributed to the Seven Years' War,
during which Prussia's economic and financial situation suffered significantly.
Only after the end of the war in 1763 were the chambers inside the pavilion furnished.
As the building served not only as a decorative piece of garden architecture but also as a setting for small social events,
Frederick the Great ordered the building of a Chinese Kitchen, a few metres south-east of the Chinese House.
After a conversion in 1789, only the hexagonal windows show the Oriental character of the former outbuilding.
A few years later, the Dragon House was built in the form of a Chinese pagoda on the northern edge of Sansouci Park bordering Klausberg.
The building was Frederick the Great's attempt to follow the Chinese fashion of the 18th century,
which began in France before spreading to England, Germany, and Russia.
Dragon House (German Drachenhaus) is a historical building in Potsdam, Germany,
built by King Frederick the Great of Prussia on the southern slope of the Klausberg, which borders the northern edge of Sansouci Park.
It was constructed between 1770 and 1772 in the prevailing Chinoiserie taste of the time, designed to imitate a Chinese pagoda.
Carl von Gontard was commissioned to build it.
The Orangery Palace (German: Orangerieschloss) is a palace located in the Sansouci Park of Potsdam, Germany.
Also known as the New Orangery on the Klausberg, or just the Orangery. It was built on behest of the "Romantic on the Throne",
King Friedrich Wilhelm IV (Frederick William IV of Prussia) from 1851 to 1864.
The building of the Orangery began with a plan for a high street or triumph street.
It was to begin at the triumph arch, east of Sansouci Park, and end at the Belvedere on the Klausberg.
The difference in elevation was to be balanced with viaducts.
With reference to the north side of the Picture Gallery and the New Chambers from the time of Frederick the Great,
Frederick William IV sketched out more new buildings, which would decorate his two kilometer long Via Tiumphalis.
The New Palace (German: Neues Palais) is a palace situated on the western side of the Sansouci park in Potsdam, Germany.
The building was begun in 1763, after the end of the Seven Years' War, under King Friedrich II (Frederick the Great) and was completed in 1769.
It is considered to be the last great Prussian baroque palace.
The building of the palace commenced at the end of the Seven Years' War, to celebrate Prussia’s success.
The war is also variably referred to as the Third Silesian War, owing to the dispute over Silesia.
In an architectural form, Frederick the Great sought to demonstrate the power and glories of Prussia attributing it as fanfaronade,
an excess of splendor in marble, stone and gilt.
The Belvedere auf dem Klausberg is a building in Sansouci Park in Potsdam, Germany that is open to the public.
Georg Christian Unger based his plans on a drawing by the Italian archeologist Francesco Bianchini from his 1738 volume Del Palazzo de' Cesari.
Biancini had tried to reconstruct the Imperial Palace on the Palatine Hill in ancient Rome.
The only sources he used were ancient writers, parts of the ruins, and an inscription of a building with fountains
on a coin he found in the Nero-erected market marcelum magnum in Rome. The ancient gold piece shows an enclosed room,
an open rotunda with a vaulted ceiling, and attached on both sides to open walkways.
