Obelisk (Sanssouci)

The obelisk is a portal in 1747 at the eastern end of the Potsdam Sanssouci park built exit portal. Opposite him at the western end is the 1763 to 1769 built New Palace. The approximately two-kilometer long main avenue that runs in a line from east to west through the park, connecting the portal in a line of sight to the guest palace of Frederick the Great. The Obelisk Portal was one of the first sculptural works of the garden after the completion of the Sanssouci Palace.

Frederick the Great commissioned Georg Wenceslaus von Knobelsdorff with the artistic design of the Ostausgangs. At the request of the king, a counterpart to the garden also designed by Knobelsdorffstraße Portal of Rheinberger castle was built in memory of his Crown Prince in Rheinberg. With the execution of the sculptor Friedrich Christian Glume work was commissioned.

The low park gate is flanked by two groups of columns, each with four Corinthian columns. On each of them rests a crowned with a vase with putti and entablature. The column groups include - viewed from the park - convex walls running at, on which figures of the Roman goddess of flowers, Flora, and the goddess of fruit, Pomona stand. Later in the wall arc follow vases and at the ends of stairs with nymphs. The originating from the workshop glumes original sandstone sculptures on the gate wall were replaced in the mid- 20th century by copies.

Obelisk

The Obelisk, a few meters outside the park at the Schopenhauerstraße, showed already in Frederick's time, the boundary of the area, and was named for the portal. The stone pillar was built in 1748 to designs Knobelsdorffs and was executed by the stonemasons Johann Christian Angermann. The decorative hieroglyphics originate either from Johann Michael Hoppe principal or his younger brother Johann Christian. The Egyptianising characters contain no text, but are free imagination of the artist, as the translation of hieroglyphics in the 18th century was not yet possible.