Sanssouci was the summer palace of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, in Potsdam, near Berlin. The palace and park of Sanssouci often described as the “Prussian Versailles”.
Following the terracing of the vineyard and the completion of the palace, Frederick turned his attention to the landscaping of the greater environs of the palace and began the creation of Sanssouci Park.
He invested a lot of money to create a fountain system in Sanssouci Park like the other great Baroque gardens of Europe.
When air raids on Berlin began in the Second World War, the most significant works of art of the former imperial palaces were transferred for safety. The structure of the palace remained unscathed despite fierce fighting in the vicinity in 1945. Following the end of the war, most of the items that had been moved to Rheinsberg were transferred as bounty to the Soviet Union, only a small fraction were returned to the palace in 1958.
Sanssouci and its extensive gardens became a World Heritage Site in 1990 under the protection of UNESCO. The Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg was established in 1995 to care for Sanssouci and the other former imperial palaces in and around Berlin.
Visitors have to buy a photo permit to allow make pictures, but it’s not a permission to share those pictures which made in any palace or exhibition.
In spite of this park is so large that one day walk isn’t enough to see everything, there aren’t too much toilets, so people need some planning and self-control.
We visited Sanssouci Park in September 2018.
