New Palace of Potsdam

Between 1763 and 1769, King Frederick II of Prussia built the New Palace at the western end of Sanssouci Park. Having survived the Seven Years' War, Frederick called this colossal 220-meter-long project his "fanfaronade"—a grand boast of state survival.

To expedite construction, builders painted red faux brick joints onto stucco, mimicking expensive masonry. Only the King's southern wing features genuine exposed brick. High above, a decorative 55-meter-high copper dome rises, crowned by a gilded sculpture of the Three Graces holding the Prussian crown. This dome is entirely hollow, containing solely the wooden framing that supports its weight.

Inside, the Grotto Hall mimics a subterranean marine cavern. Its walls hold over 24,000 glittering seashells, fossils, quartz specimens, and minerals. Visitors walking across the cool Silesian marble floor can trace inlaid patterns of marine plants and animals. In 1890, workers embedded a rock fragment from the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro into these walls, a gift to Kaiser Wilhelm II. Directly above, the double-height Marble Hall features a 240-square-meter ceiling fresco of Ganymede by Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo.

The twentieth century brought darker chapters. In 1933, Hermann Göring convened the Prussian State Council in the Marble Gallery, attempting to align his regime with Frederick’s historical prestige. Following World War II, Soviet forces looted the rooms. Decades later, the Dutch government returned thirty-four trainloads of original furniture, discovered intact in their original packing crates at Huis Doorn. Today, these returned pieces stand in the restored galleries, silent witnesses to a century of displacement and return.