The New Chambers (German: ''Neue Kammern'') is part of the ensemble of

Sanssouci Sanssouci () is a historical building in Potsdam, near Berlin. Built by Prussian King Frederick the Great as his summer palace, it is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style and ...

palace in

Sanssouci Park Sanssouci Park is a large park surrounding Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, Germany, built under Frederick the Great in the mid-1700s. Following the terracing of the vineyard and the completion of the palace, the surroundings were included in the stru ...

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

, Germany. They were constructed for King

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

from 1771 to 1775.

History

The building, which stands to the west of

Palace, serves as a complement to the Picture Gallery, which lies to the east. Both buildings flank the summer palace. The chambers replaced an

orangery An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very large ...

, which had been built at that site in 1747 on plans by

Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff (Hans) Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff (17 February 1699 – 16 September 1753) was a painter and architect in Prussia. Knobelsdorff was born in Kuckädel, now in Krosno Odrzańskie County. A soldier in the service of Prussia, he resigned his ...

and held the terraces' potted plants during the winter months. Ramps, on which the tubs were taken in and out, serve as reminders of the building's original use. Master builder

Georg Christian Unger Georg Christian Unger (25 May 1743 – 20 February 1799) was a German architect who was a pupil of the architect Carl von Gontard and served Frederick II of Prussia. Among his works were the Brandenburg Gate (Potsdam), Brandenburg Gate in Potsdam a ...

was commissioned to turn the orangery building into a guesthouse. The building's basic elements were left alone, as were its size and floor-to-ceiling

french doors A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security by ...

. The most obvious change was the addition of a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

on the middle section. The similarities between the architecture of the New Chambers and that of the Picture Gallery are such that the two buildings can be mistaken for the other.

Description

Interior

The real alteration occurred in the interior, where seven guest rooms and two ballrooms were created. The building is a highpoint of the late style of

Frederician Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

, even though the

Neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The pr ...

was already largely set as the prevailing taste of the period. The halls were designed by Johann Christian Hoppenhaupt. The guest rooms were decorated differently with

lacquer Lacquer is a type of hard and usually shiny coating or finish applied to materials such as wood or metal. It is most often made from resin extracted from trees and waxes and has been in use since antiquity. Asian lacquerware, which may be ca ...

ed, painted, or inlaid cabinets, whose costly

inlay Inlay covers a range of techniques in sculpture and the decorative arts for inserting pieces of contrasting, often colored materials into depressions in a base object to form Ornament (art), ornament or pictures that normally are flush with th ...

s of native woods decorated the entire wall from the ceiling to the floor. For paintings, the guest rooms have views of Potsdam, which document the town's design under Frederick the Great and were specially commissioned for the guesthouse by the king.

The Jasper Room

In the middle of the building, under the cupola, lies the largest room, the

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...

Room. The ballroom's walls are decorated with red

jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...

and grey

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

. The same colors are found in the floor design. The ceiling painting ''

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

mit ihrem Gefolge'' (''Venus with her Retinue'') was created by

Johann Christoph Frisch Johann Christoph Frisch (born 9 February 1738 in Berlin; died 28 February 1815 in Berlin) was a historical painter. He was the son of the designer and engraver, Ferdinand Helfreich Frisch. He was a pupil of B. Rode and afterwards studied furth ...

. Decorated panels from both

antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to: Historical objects or periods Artifacts *Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...

and the 18th century were attached to the background of red jasper.

The Ovid Gallery

The second, large ballroom, located in the eastern part of the New Chambers is the

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

Gallery, decorated in the style of French mirrored rooms. On the long side of the room is a mirror stretching almost to the ceiling, across from which, on the garden side, are French doors. Frederick asked for the walls to be decorated with gilded reliefs of the liaisons of the ancient gods, which had been told of by the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

poet Ovid in his ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...

''. The room's rich decoration comes from the workshop of the sculptors and brothers

Johann David Räntz Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name ''Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious" ...

and

Johann Lorentz Wilhelm Räntz Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name ''Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious" ...

Selected collection highlights

File:Karl Christian Wilhelm Baron, Alter Markt in Potsdam mit Stadtschloss (Blick in Richtung Schlossstraße), GK I 5747 original.jpg, Karl Christian Wilhelm Baron File:Karl Christian Wilhelm Baron - Der Alte Markt in Potsdam mit Blick auf das Rathaus 1772.jpeg, Karl Christian Wilhelm Baron

World Heritage Site

Since 1990 the palace and garden of Sanssouci including the New Chambers has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site, called

Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin (german: Schlösser und Gärten von Potsdam und Berlin) are a group of palace complexes and extended landscape gardens located in the Havelland region around Potsdam and the German capital of Berlin. The term ...

References

Additional reading

*Adelheid Schendel, Jerzy Prrzytański: ''Die Neuen Kammern im Park Sanssouci''. Potsdam-Sanssouci 1987 *Gert Streidt, Klaus Frahm: ''Potsdam. Die Schlösser und Gärten der Hohenzollern'', Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Köln 1996

External links

The New Chambers
- Potsdam Tourism
Virtual tour of the New Chambers (Sanssouci)
provided by

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world. It utilizes high-resolution image technol ...

* {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Potsdam Royal residences in Brandenburg Paintings of Venus Museums in Potsdam Historic house museums in Germany Sanssouci Park Baroque architecture in Potsdam