If you have a few days to spend in Berlin and you don’t dedicate at least one of them to the Sanssouci Palace Park, you are missing out a lot. It is one of the 46 UNESCO World Heritage sights in Germany. It can easily be reached via the city transport of the German capital. And as a person who has travelled the world a lot and has stepped inside not one or two palaces, I can tell you: this one is my favourite.
Sanssouci is French for “without a care” and was built as a summer residence for Friedrich the Great in 1747. The name is not just a beautiful title without any content- it actually represents the purpose for which the palace was created. Sanssouci was meant as a private retreat, a place where the monarch could find peace in difficult times. Friedrich the Great desired that his summer residence would be created for his personal use and needs only and that it would die with him. This is why he prohibited major repairment work on the palace to be done when he was alive.
Today we can only be grateful that his wish was not granted and the palace complex survived even the World War II with merely a scratch.
How to Get There
The palace is located in the Town of Potsdam, which is about 30km away from Berlin, or approximately a 30-minute drive. Parking in the dedicated car park will cost you 3€ for the first hour, 2€ for any additional hour or a total of 10€ for the whole day. However, you can conveniently navigate to Sanssouci with the city public trains within the transport system of Berlin. You can get S7 from Berlin’s main station to Potsdam. In this case it will take you about 1h to get to the palace from the capital city. In my case, I paid for the Berlin Welcome Card ABC. It is a great option for tourists as it gives you access to the public transport without additional charges, you save up to 50% from entrance fees at top attractions and it includes a city map and a guide. If you pay for the ABC card, this includes all the three zones of Berlin (Potsdam is in zone C), which also covers your travels to and within Potsdam.
Sanssouci- The Original
If you look up Sanssouci on Google or in any travel guide, you will see that the palace complex consists of the original palace, or simply Sanssouci, the New Palace (Neues Palais), the Orangery, the Chinese House and a few other constructions.
The one that deserves most praise and admirations, according to me, is the original old palace. This does not mean at all that the rest of the park is not of any significance- quite the contrary, it is marvelous. However, the old palace is different from any other summer (or regular) residence of a royalty. It is not built for people’s eyes, to impress or to inspire respect, but rather for the personal use of the monarch. It was meant to be his dream sanctuary, where he could live close to nature without any care, as the name suggests. This makes the palace stand out with its rather small size for a royal home and its intimate atmosphere. It is in no way pompous or over the top, but at the same time it was surely built with great attention to details, abundance of resources and in the spirit of aesthetic integrity.
The idea for the design belonged to Friedrich himself, who drew the initial sketch of what he wanted built. He did not accept the architect’s suggestions to incorporate a semi-basement for service rooms, as he wanted the residence built on ground level. In that way he could easily access it from the garden, without having to climb a number of stairs. Initially the palace contained only 10 principle rooms, and a picture gallery was subsequently added later on. This exact gallery contained works from Rubens and Caravaggio and is the oldest still existing museum built for a German head of state.
The New Palace
Built 20 years later, the New Palace was never meant simply to be lived in. It served exactly the opposite purpose of Sanssouci- to demonstrate the might of the Prussian monarch and the power of his country. Friedrich announced this unambiguously, referring to the New Palace as his way of showing off. It came as a result of Prussia’s near defeat in the Seven Year’s War and as an attempt to raise the spirits.
The New Palace is much bigger in size, much more opulent and is considered as the last great Prussian Baroque palace. Compared to the modest 10 principal rooms of Sanssouci, the New Palace has more than 200 rooms and a theatre. It did not serve as a residence as much as a splendid reception area for important diplomats and royal guests.
Judge for yourself which one you like better. Also, keep in mind that the tour of Sanssouci is a guided group tour. I did not book mine in advance, so I had to wait about 15-20min for the next group entrance. At the New Palace you would have the chance to explore with a self-guided audio tour. You’d also have to take your shoes off and you will be given fluffy slippers, which you should wear inside to avoid floor damage. Here you can find how much it would cost you to visit the palaces.
The Rest of the Park
Don’t restrain yourself just to these two sights and explore the whole park and the beautiful baroque gardens. The two points of interest that deserve your attention the most are the Chinese House and the Orangery. The Chinese house is about 700m away from the main palace and the gardens. It combines rococo and Chinese architectural elements and it was meant as a place for relaxation, where the monarch could simply sit and enjoy the gardens.
The Orangery was built in Italian style and was used to store exotic plants in the cold months. Make sure to put on comfy, preferably closed shoes, as in the palace complex you will often have to walk on uneven terrain - gravel or dirt road.
With its unique combination of different architectural styles and peculiarities, meant to meet the preferences and personal taste of Friedrich the Great, Sanssouci really is a one of a kind palace complex, which makes it a must-see in everyone’s bucket list. Situated just outside of Berlin with regular public transport back and forth, it is easy to reach, so take a day for it. You won’t regret it!
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