Trip to Germany: Day 11 (Sans Soucci)

Germany Trip Day 12: This day was a polar opposite experience from my visit to Sachsenhausen the day before. Instead, I visited the Schloss and Park Sanssouci, which was begun as a summer retreat for Frederick the Great (1712-86) so he could be "sans souci" (without cares). What luxury and opulence were here! This park has numerous palaces, monuments and gardens. I spent seven hours here and still didn't see everything! 

I first visited the Sanssouci Palace itself. I was interested to learn that a specific strain the Rococo style can be seen at Sanssouci, which is known as Frederician Rococo. This style embraces nature in all its forms, including spiderwebs and spiders! 🕷 I also loved seeing the oval dome in the Marble Room (it reminded me of Borromini) and the floral garland on the ceiling of the Voltaire Room.

I really adored the bedchamber nicknamed the "Voltaire Room." Voltaire was a guest at Sanssouci for three years, from 1750-1753.

Ceiling of the Voltaire Room

Wall paneling in the Voltaire Room

The Bildergalerie:

This is the Bildergalerie in Sanssouci Park. The lighting is similar to the original lighting for the gallery (i. e., using windows, so the glare is terrible), but it was still fun to see Caravaggio's "Doubting Thomas."

The Orangerie:I then went and visited the Orangerie. This palace contains a Raphael Hall, which is based off of the Sala Regia in the Vatican. The room is filled with copies of Raphael paintings. I thought of my late friend Hasan when I walked into this room - he would have loved it!

The New Chambers: 

The Chinese House:I really enjoyed seeing the Chinese House and thinking about chinoiserie. I love that Corinthian column were replaced with lush, exotic palm trees. 

The Roman Bath House:

This is the Caryatid Room in the Roman Bath House

Neues Palace:
The most impressive room to me in the Neues Palace was the Grotto Hall, since the walls were covered with iridescent shells and colored stones. When I was there, I remember thinking how I've never seen anything like it before. The royal family would spend Christmas in this hall.

Neues Palace

Schloss Charlottenhof: 

The red door color was in vogue in the Neoclassical era because of the discoveries of red Roman wall paintings at Pompeii. 

This is the Tent Room at Schloss Charlettenhof. This was a guest room and was supposed to evoke a Roman commander's tent. I imagine there also was some interest in tents because of Turquerie.

This was an unforgettable day in Potsdam. I saw so many beautiful things and I learned a lot, too. I'm really glad that I got to go here at the very end of my trip - what a great finale to my experience in Germany!