Villa Schöningen

After picking you up from your hotel, we drive over the highway to the city of Potsdam (East Germany). We park next to the old windmill. From there we have a first view over the park of Sanssouci. We head over to the little palace itself (timeslot, tickets included if you have chosen this option). You will see there the palace of King Frederic II, the Great, on the vineyard. It has only 8 rooms, but very well crafted in the Rococo style. One half was used by himself, library, bed room, music room, audience room. The others were used by his (only male) guests. The most famous among them was Voltaire. They discussed, had dinner or played music together in the beautiful oval hall with columns made by Caracas marble. The whole interior is saved from the time of construction 1745-47. During main season (1st April to 30th Sept) you can see the the kitchen (original interieur 19th century) and the picture gallery, with the original collection of Frederic II, including Incredulous Thomas from Caravaggio. From there we have a beautiful walk over the garden terrace of the palace, seeing the grave of Frederic and his dogs. We walk down the vineyard, towards the huge fountain. From there we take a scenic way through the landscape shaped garden with meadows, small bridges, a Chinese House (can be visited) and more figures and temples, preciously arranged. And always a view through the trees and bushes towards another palace, obelisque, the windmill or some grottos and scultpures. Mostly we finish this little walk by the stairs towards the marvellous "palace of plants" from the 19th century, the Orangerie palace. We stroll through its gardens, fountains, bushes and roses, totally in Italian architecture, built by the last Prussian King, Frederic William IV. Partly still refurbished, but with a beautiful panorama view over the Sanssouci park, including the New Palace. From there it's only a little walk back to our car. We take our car and have a route through (!) the garden, passing the Orangerie Palace and head over to the huge New Palace. It was as well built from Frederic II after the 7-years-war in a record time of 7 years only. To brag about his victory, as he confessed - and to store there his family, when he was visited. Because he preferred to live only with his friends in the vineyard palace. And left his wife in another palace in the North of Berlin. We could visit this palace with 400-600 rooms (depending if you count servant's rooms), but most guests decide to have a view on the beautiful baroque city centre of Potsdam. Unlike Berlin, it's almost preserved from the war, but the city palace was recently reconstruced. We finish our tour with our route back to Berlin, passing the Cecilie's Palace (Potsdam conferenc was here in 1945, can be visited), the spy bridge (Glienicker Brücke) with view on the palaces of Babelsberg and Glienicke. And turn back via Federal Street No. 1, we old Reichsstr. 1 of the German Empire, back to your accommodation.

Explore the historic Villa Schöningen building at your own pace with this entrance ticket. Make your way to Glienicker Bridge, once one of the most famous border posts between East and West Berlin, where you can admire the villa's Italian villa-style architecture, designed by Ludwig Persius. Inside, wander through a range of contemporary art and visit our current exhibition "Fabric. Textile and the female Nude" where we show a variety of works related to the topic of the exhibition such as Rembrandt, Cranach, Cindy Sherman or Paula Modersohn-Becker! In the villa's park, stroll among fruit trees and sculptures by various artists. Stop for a bite to eat in the on-site café or rent stand-up paddles (SUP) in the summer.