Sanssouci Palace interiors

Sanssouci Palace has several interiors and rooms. Here you will find information on the individual interiors, rooms and halls.

Table of contents

In the middle part of the castle lies the vestibule (vestibule) and the marble hall facing the garden on the north-south axis. To the east is the royal apartment, with reception room / audience room, concert room, study and bedroom, library and an elongated gallery on the north side. There are also five guest rooms to the west of the two central halls. All rooms are on one level and thus correspond to the principles of a “Maison de plaisance”.

The main rooms face the garden on the south side. The servants’ chambers and the gallery are on the north side of the castle.

Sanssouci Palace had no living quarters for his wife, Queen Elisabeth Christine. Frederick II pushed her to Schönhausen Palace in today’s Berlin district of Pankow.

The interiors of Sanssouci Palace are still richly furnished with furniture, porcelain, paintings and sculptures, mainly from the 18th century.

Overview of the interior of Sanssouci Palace

Count to the interiors (see map)

the vestibule (1)
the ballroom (marble hall) (2)
Audience room (3)
Concert room (4)
Royal apartment with study and bedroom (5)
Library (6)
Small gallery (7)
five guest rooms (8 to 12)
of which “Voltairezimmer” (11) and “Rothenburgzimmer (12)
Servant room (13)

Vestibule (1)

The vestibule, the so-called entrance hall, is the first room that visitors and guests enter. The hall, which is held in gold and silver gray, has a rather strict architectural structure and conveys a representative entrance area. The columns contained repeat the coupled position of the colonnade of the courtyard.

The marble hall can be entered via a double door to the south. The royal apartment is to the east and the five guest rooms to the west

Marble Hall (2)

The marble hall served as a ballroom and was on the garden side. Because of its size and location, it was the main room of the castle. The marble room has an oval floor plan. The Pantheon in Rome was the model for the dome opened by a light opening at the apex. The marble of the marble hall comes from Carrara and Silesia and was processed in the columns, walls, window reveals and in the ornamental inlay work of the floor.

As already started in the courtyard and continued in the vestibule, there are eight pairs of Corinthian columns made of marble with gilded bases and capitals in the marble hall. The ceiling has gilded stucco work with boxed fields, military emblems and medallion attributes of the arts and sciences.

Royal apartment

The royal apartment (5) is Frederick the Great’s apartment.

The three of the five rooms of the royal apartment are in an enfilade. This means that the rooms are lined up to form a suite, with the door openings facing each other exactly.

These include the

Audience and dining room (3)
the concert room (4)
Bedroom and study (5)

The royal apartment also has a library and a small gallery. Since the number of rooms were limited, most rooms have multiple functions in the royal apartment.

Audience room / dining room (3)

The relatively small audience room is the first room in the apartment. It has numerous paintings with gilt frames, which harmonize well with the purple silk damask. It was in the first sense the reception room / audience room in which the guests waited for an audience with the king.

The audience room was also used as a dining room for the lunch table of Frederick the Great. The marble room, on the other hand, only served as a banquet and dining room for special occasions.

The concert room adjoins the audience room.

Concert room (4)

The concert room is one of the most beautiful rooms in German Rococo. It was optically expanded by mirrors and house paintings, sculptures and handicrafts. With its filigree wall and ceiling ornaments, which represent animals, plants and mussels, forms of nature, it creates a transition to the adjacent garden.

Friedrich himself was a passionate and talented flute player and used this space primarily as a concert room. A grand piano, a flute and a music stand are reminiscent of this time. The concert room was also used as a second audience room.

Study and bedroom (5)

This room is the only castle room that no longer shows the original interior. The room was redesigned in the classicist style by his successor and nephew Friedrich Wilhelm II.

The office and bedroom was an important center of power in Friedrich’s time. Here he met with his cabinet councils and ministers and formulated orders, ordinances and decrees. It was also the room in which he died in his armchair on August 17, 1786.

Library (6)

The library was designed based on a floor plan of a study at Rheinsberg Castle. It houses around 2,200 books, which originally came from the city palace. It was outside the Enfilade and was characterized by its location as a place of concentration. Only Frederick the Great was allowed to enter the room.

Small gallery (7)

The Small Gallery was also one of Frederick the Great’s private rooms.

Other interiors in Sanssouci Palace

Guest rooms (8 to 12)

Sanssouci Palace had several guest rooms. These bordered the marble hall to the west and had windows to the garden side. The guest rooms also had servant rooms and chambers. Frederick the Great had many guests in the castle over the years. Who exactly that was is not exactly known. Among them were the French philosopher and writer Voltaire and Count Friedrich Rudolf von Rothenburg, a close confidant of Friedrich. It is not clear whether Voltaire really stayed at Sanssouci Palace or the Potsdam City Palace. But both guests led to the naming of a room in the castle.

Servant room (13)

The servant rooms and chambers to the respective guest rooms.

Further information on the construction and architecture of Sanssouci Palace can be found here.