Neues Palais

The Neues Palais in Potsdam was built between 1763 and 1769 at the western end of Sanssouci Park's main avenue. Frederick the Great commissioned it as a deliberate statement of Prussian military and cultural power after the Seven Years War unlike the intimate Rococo of Sanssouci, the New Palace is monumental and assertive. The architect was Carl von Gontard, who designed a 200-metre-long sandstone building with a central corps de logis, two flanking wings, and a domed central hall. The palace contains over 200 rooms, of which about 50 are open to visitors. The most remarkable interior is the Grotto Hall, with walls and vaulted ceiling encrusted with shells, minerals, semi-precious stones, fossils, and coloured glass one of the most extraordinary Rococo interiors in any German palace. The theatre wing holds the Schlosstheater, a fully functional 18th-century court theatre with 400 seats, still used for performances. The Communs, two large buildings flanking the forecourt, were service wings connected by an underground tunnel system. The palace was reserved for state occasions and for the sons of the Hohenzollern family.