Sanssouci

Sanssouci is a summer palace built between 1745 and 1747 on a terraced hillside in Potsdam, near Berlin, for the Prussian king Frederick the Great, who intended it as a private retreat and took a close personal role in its design alongside the architect Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff. Its name, French for without worries, reflects its purpose as an informal escape from the ceremonial demands of the royal court in Berlin, and its single-story main building is considered one of the finest examples of German Rococo architecture. The palace sits atop a series of terraced vineyards, and Frederick was buried, according to his own wishes, on the terrace beside the palace rather than in a grand royal tomb. Sanssouci and its surrounding park form part of the Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin, inscribed together as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990.