Ruinenberg in Potsdam is a hill on which the Prussian king Frederick the Great ordered a water tank. This tank, decorated with fake ruins, was intended to supply the gorgeous Sanssouci Palace nearby, where the name comes from.
During a visit to Potsdam in the Summer of 2020, I wanted to see something different since I have seen the most traditional sights in town a few times. Since there are many exciting sights in Potsdam, I decided to see something a bit more unusual than expected, and this is how I found my way into the Ruinenberg.
A Short History of the Ruinenberg in Potsdam
Ruinenberg is a 74-meter-high hill on the Sanssouci Palace’s north side. Around it, tons of big green trees were a fantastic place to cool down after a long summer walk around Potsdam. Historically, this hill was part of the partridge and pheasant hunting grounds of the Prussian kings when it was still called Hünenberg. Frederick William I of Prussia used to hunt there. His son, Frederick the Great, decided to use the area for the future palace.
Frederick the Great had several plans for the area besides the Sanssouci Palace, and some required a lot of water. These included a fountain complex, a marble colonnade, and a Neptune Grotto, which can be visited today near the Obelisk entrance in Sanssouci Park.
Exploring the Ruinenberg in Potsdam: History and Highlights
Technically, the idea was to draw water from the Havel River through windmills and bring it to the tank on the hill. Then, it would flow under the park through a system of hollow tree trunks, leading to the fountains.
Even though Frederick the Great invested much money in the project, it didn’t work. This was primarily due to the lack of technical knowledge among those hired to develop it.
It all came to a complete stop in 1780, and a couple of years before, the king wrote to Voltaire about the failed project, as you can read in the text below that we found on Wikipedia.
I wanted to have a water jet in my garden: Euler calculated the force of the wheels necessary to raise the water to a reservoir, from where it should fall back through channels, finally spurting out in Sans Souci. My mill was carried out geometrically and could not raise a mouthful of water closer than fifty paces to the reservoir. Vanity of vanities! Vanity of geometry!
As a way to save the project somehow, Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff and Innocente Bellavite were brought into the project. They designed some fake ruins resembling Roman pillars, a round temple, and the surviving walls of a Roman theatre. These antique ruins gave the Ruinenberg in Potsdam its name.
Only a century after the construction of Sanssouci and its garden, Friedrich Wilhelm IV managed to realize Frederick the Great’s dream. Due to some technological improvements, mostly the steam engine and a modern piping system, the fountains designed years before were put into place. A building was also constructed to house the steam engine and the pump machine. This building is next to the Havel River, disguised as a mosque designed by Ludwig Persius.
Ludwig Persius also extended the Roman theatre wall on the Ruinenberg with a lookout tower that imitated a medieval watchtower. After Persius’s early death, Ferdinand von Arnim built the Norman Tower in 1846.
The Ruinenberg is a great historical site in Potsdam that most people don’t even know about. As you can see in the drone video we shot from the top, you have a unique view of the gardens in the Sanssouci Palace. The fake ruins are unusual in a historical place like this. Still, it was pretty interesting to understand more about the reasons behind this during the research for this article.
If you want to visit the Ruinenberg in Potsdam, you must find your way there and follow the map below. It’s quite simple to get there and, if you do this in the summertime, you’ll love how lush and green the hill is.
Potsdam’s Ruinenberg: Uncovering the Secrets of the Artificial Ruins
Ruinenberg, 14469
Potsdam – Germany
spsg.de/en/palaces-gardens/object/norman-tower-on-ruinenberg
