Frederick and Potsdam: The Invention of a City: A City Is Born

When Frederick the Great (1712–86) ascended to the Prussian throne, Potsdam was a small provincial town. But, by the end of his reign, it had risen both in population and prominence thanks to the construction of beautiful royal residences, foremost of which was the rococo Sanssouci Palace, whose grounds boast a UNESCO World Heritage–listed garden.


Published on the occasion of the three-hundredth anniversary of Frederick the Great’s birth, this book chronicles the city’s rapid rise at the hands of the king. An ardent supporter of architecture and the arts, Frederick the Great dedicated himself to the beautification of Potsdam, commissioning artists and artisans from both home and abroad and seeking inspiration in the buildings he encountered in Italy, England, and France. This book brings together fifty full-color illustrations of the works he commissioned or purchased.  


Few European cities can be said to have been built so fundamentally to suit the ideas of a single ruler. Frederick and Potsdam: A City is Born thoroughly examines this “invention of a city.”

Jutta Götzmann is a German art historian and director of the Potsdam Museum.