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Nicole writes:
Bonnie and I took a trip to the Potsdam suburb of Berlin, mostly to see the Sanssouci Palace. Tours of the palace are scheduled at specific times during the day, and we took ourselves through the castle with the help of an audio guide in English. The palace itself was stunning, and filled with decorations in the Rococo style. In keeping with Frederick the Great’s wishes that the palace be dedicated to relaxation and the appreciation of nature, the palace is filled with rococo-style decorations in the forms of leaves, flowers, trees, fruits, animals, birds, and other natural things.
We also strolled the extensive gardens and visited the “Chinese House.” The guard there had a connection to Chicago: he spent 3 days in O’Hare airport on a bench waiting for a plane to Mexico. He showed us some special features of the Chinese House. This building is called the Chinese House because back in the day of Frederick the Great (and actually now still) there was the idea that things that either were Chinese or looked like they might have been Chinese to someone from Europe were super cool, and they named that decorating style Chinoiserie. Chinoiserie, while purporting to admire and respect Chinese culture and style, is also cultural appropriation and deals in overly simplistic stereotypes of Chinese people and culture.
We also walked to the Neue Palace, but unfortunately did not make it in time for the last interior tour. We enjoyed the sprawling outside of the palace and then took ourselves to the old Dutch Quarter of Pottsdam, where there are 134 red, two-story brick houses, arranged on four squares. Known as the Holländerhäuser (“Dutch houses”), they were built for Dutch immigrants by the architect Jan Bouman between 1734 and 1742. They make up the largest exclusively Dutch housing development outside the Netherlands. Well preserved and refurbished, they are now the core of a popular area in the historic center of Potsdam. We ate a delicious Thai dinner in one of the old Dutch Quarter buildings.
“Sanssouci was the summer palace of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, in Potsdam, near Berlin. It is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style and is far smaller than its French Baroque counterpart, it too is notable for the numerous temples and follies in the park. The palace was designed/built by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff between 1745 and 1747 to fulfill King Frederick’s need for a private residence where he could relax away from the pomp and ceremony of the Berlin court. The palace’s name emphasises this; it is a French phrase (sans souci), which translates as “without concerns”, meaning “without worries” or “carefree”, symbolising that the palace was a place for relaxation rather than a seat of power.”
“Chinoiserie loanword from French chinoiserie, from chinois, “Chinese”; Chinese: 中国风) is the European interpretation and imitation of Chinese and East Asian artistic traditions, especially in the decorative arts, garden design, architecture, literature, theatre, and music.”