Sanssouci, Potsdam
European Garden Award 2014
Since 1990 Park Sanssouci is part of the larger World Heritage Site “Castles and Parks in Berlin and Potsdam”. It is helpful to quote from the UNESCO documents: “Potsdam-Sanssouci – frequently called the “Prussian Versailles” – is the crystallization of a great number of influences from Italy, England, Flanders, Paris, and Dresden. A synthesis of art trends in European cities and courts in the 18th century, the castle and the park offer new models that have greatly influenced the development of the monumental arts and the organization of space.”
In 1995, the Foundation for Prussian Palaces and Gardens in Berlin-Brandenburg was established to care for Sanssouci and the other former imperial palaces and parks in and around Berlin. Key restoration work, including some activities related to Sanssouci, has been listed in a Masterplan that will be implemented with about 155 million Euro until 2017.
Numerous events, e.g. on literature and music, but also new ideas, such as After Work Guided Tours attract new visitors. Good communication is very important too: a visitor magazine “sans,souci.” (Without sorrows) is published four times and year and distributed in two local newspapers. Marketing, communication and design of the foundation have been granted many prestigious awards in the recent years.
At the moment there is an innovative open-air-exhibition in the park of Sanssouci called “Paradiesapfel” (paradise apple). It invites visitors to engage all their senses and to experience the park as a historically evolving synthesis of the arts. The exhibition stimulates interest in new insights and provides views into royal garden worlds. A total of 19 sites and several “interventions” in the park encourage visitors to experience diverse facets of the gardens, such as “cultivation”, “design” and “enjoyment”.
The jury enjoyed this mix of world heritage and modern ideas and agreed on Sanssouci as one this year’s finalists.