The first palace we visited I was originally pretty disappointed with. I was expecting a huge castle like the ones appearing in Disney movies. Its history, however, was pretty interesting. Cecilienhof Palace was more like a grand country home, once belonging to Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern during the turn of the 20th century. Cecilienhof was the site of the Potsdam Conference from July 17 to August 2, 1945, at which Stalin, Churchill, and Truman in order to discuss the fate of Germany after it had surrendered on May 8, 1945. The rooms stood nearly the same as they had during the meeting. This location was chosen for the conference because it was one of the few locations in Germany that was completely standing by the end of World War II.
(outside)
(current state)
(1945)
The second palace was much more magical. The castle was called Sanssouci, French for “without worry.” It was the summer palace and favorite residence of Frederick the Great, 18th century King of Prussia. Built in the French style, it was extraordinarily beautiful and had the most extravagant technology of the time. The King wanted water fountains at his palace, but the technology wasn't around yet to make them functional. It is said that the fountains only worked for 10 minutes throughout the entire 40 years he lived there.
The shutters shown within the plant walls were used to protect the figs during the winter- I thought this was pretty cook!
Some pictures of the rooms inside! The rooms were gorgeous!
Under a pergola-like structure at Schloss Sanssouci
(Majority of these photos were found online. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside both palaces and my camera isn't good enough to capture the entire landscape.)
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