Frederick and Potsdam

During the course of his 46-year reign, Frederick II of Prussia dedicated himself to the beautification of Potsdam with great zeal. He founded factories, commissioned artists and artisans at home and abroad, and hired agents who were sent all over Europe to purchase artworks. Throughout his life, Frederick the Great took an interest in architecture. He sought inspiration in France, Italy and England, and had some of the major buildings in these countries rebuilt on a smaller scale in Potsdam. No other city in Europe was so fundamentally changed to suit the individual ideas of a single ruler in such a short time. There is also virtually no other city in Europe that, to this day, is so thoroughly linked to a single name. On the basis of current research and 150 artefacts, such as paintings, furniture, decorative arts and silks, this book examines the Invention of a City with all its achievements and disadvantages.