Friederisiko

The greeting of the Potsdam visitor

In my first blog in 2012, I not only mentioned the 300th birthday of Frederick the Great, commemorated in Germany, but also reflected on the character of this Prussian king, joining Schiller in his remark: "I cannot get fond of that guy."

Presently at Frederick's residence in Potsdam, an exhibition in the New Palace, named Friederisiko, attempts to retrace the Prussian king's life, the title alluding to his frequent playing of vabanque during war. Frederick moaned through his early life: I must fight three women, Maria-Theresa of Austria, Madame de Pompadour of France, and Elisabeth of Russia. It is a historical fact that the sudden death of one of Frederick's archenemies, the Tsarina, averted Prussia's total military defeat. Her son and successor, Peter, the king's great admirer, agreed to an armistice. This unexpected turn became known as the Miracle of the House of Brandenburg.

Following the Peace Treaty of Hubertusburg, Frederick began rebuilding his country and completing the Park of Sanssouci. In constructing the New Palace, he wanted to show the world that Prussia was still not on her knees and even had the financial resources to build such a useless building. In fact, Frederick preferred living at the Sans Souci Palace and used the New Palace only for official receptions and to host his guests. His successors chose to stay in Berlin, Prussia's capital, and when in Potsdam, resided in the cozier Charlottenhof.

Plan of the Sans Souci Park with important buildings marked in red.
To the right is the vineyard terrace that leads up to the Sans Souci Palace.
The circular building in the lower middle is the tea pavilion, and to the left is the New Palace.
Far in the south, the tiny red dot is Charlottenhof.

At the entrance to Sans, Souci Fredrick's revenant playing traverse flute asks for an obol.
In the back, the famous historic windmill.

Sans, Souci under thunderclouds

The comma behind Sans -- does it allude to Frederick's missing virile member?
It had been amputated in his young years following an infection of gonorrhea.
Historians are still discussing the issue, including Frederick's sexual preferences.

Our guide, as other tourists had before, honored Frederick's tomb with a potato.
Frederick introduced the potato into Brandenburg, a crop well-suited to the sandy ground.
The story is that Prussian soldiers fed on potatoes fought better
than soldiers of enemy armies, who still depended on cereals.

View of Sans, Souci from below. Today, the grapes grown on the wine terrace are Scheurebe.
At the time of Fredrick, gardeners tried out wide varieties to deliver grapes
to the king, who was crazy about fresh fruit of all kinds.
Frederick was willing to pay a fortune for a handful of cherries in February.

The tea pavilion in the park is constructed in a style that people thought was Chinese.
It was à la mode at Frederick's time.
The nuns had come all the way from Poland to honor a guy who did not care about religion:
Every man should go to heaven in his own way.

Apparently, the Chinese not only invented papel, gun powdel, and porcelain.
But also the saxophone?

Frederick is everywhere and in all forms.
Here, with a hat made from porcelain, inviting tourists to buy chinaware
 made in the Royal Prussian Porcelain Manufactory

Even in the hotel, a plastic sculpture bid us Good Morning on our way to breakfast.

While the guided tour concentrated on Frederick's Potsdam, we also visited Rheinsberg. As a young man far from his father's knout, the Prince felt happy writing poetry, making music, and partying with friends. Frederick wrote: My entire mind is turned to philosophy. It does me good service. I am happy, as I am much calmer than I was before.

Rheinsberg Castle, seen from the lakeside, with our group in the foreground.

Young Frederick. His statue in Rheinsberg.

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