weeberry:

Sans, souci.

Sanssouci is the former summer palace of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, in Potsdam, near Berlin. 

The palace’s name emphasises this; it is a French phrase (sans souci), which translates as “without concerns”, meaning “without worries” or “carefree”, symbolising that the palace was a place for relaxation.

Sanssouci is little more than a large, single-story villa, containing just ten principal rooms. The influence of King Frederick’s personal taste in the design and decoration of the palace was so great that its style is characterised as “Frederician Rococo”.

Although Frederick the Great is best remembered as a military genius, in his youth he was more interested in music and philosophy than the art of war. He was a patron of music as well as a gifted musician who played the transverse flute. He composed 100 sonatas for the flute as well as four symphonies.

Frederick aspired to be a Platonic philosopher king like the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. He stood close to the French Enlightenment, corresponding with some of its key figures, such as Voltaire, whom he asked in 1750 to come to live with him. 

The correspondence between Frederick and Voltaire, which spanned almost 50 years, was marked by mutual intellectual fascination. In person, however, their friendship was often contentious, as Voltaire abhorred Frederick’s militarism. Voltaire and Frederick resumed their correspondence and eventually aired their mutual recriminations, to end as friends once more.

When Voltaire lived in Sanssouci he occupied The Voltaire Room. It is remarkable for its decoration: on a yellow lacquered wall panel were superimposed, colourful, richly adorned wood carvings. Apes, parrots, cranes, storks, fruits, flowers, garlands gave the room a cheerful and natural character.

Historians disagree on the nature of Frederick’s sexuality. In 2011, an unpublished erotic poem by Frederick was discovered among his letters.  After one particular defeat on the battlefield he wrote: “Fortune has it in for me; she is a woman, and I am not that way inclined.” Although he was married, he had no children and only visited his wife formally once a year. The queen was never invited to stay in Sanssouci. 

Near the end of his life Frederick grew increasingly solitary, preferring instead the company of his pet Italian greyhounds, whom he referred to as his ‘marquises de Pompadour’ as a jibe at the French royal mistress.

Frederick II died in an armchair in his study in the palace of Sanssouci on 17 August 1786, aged 74. He left instructions that he should be buried next to his greyhounds on the vineyard terrace in Sanssouci.