[MOC] Sanssouci - Potsdam

[Rauy]

I built an Architecture model of Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, Germany, the former summer residence of Prussian king Frederick the Great. It was built in the 1740s in the style of Rococo based on plans by architect Georg Wenzelslaus von Knobelsdorff and is a UNESCO World Heritage site, together with the rest of Sanssouci Park and its other palaces and gardens. The scale of the model is about 1:275. While the palace is often compared to Versailles, it is a lot smaller and more intimate, as it was deliberately intended for more residential purposes rather than mere representation of luxury. Though, even with less than 1900 parts, with more than 64x32 studs maximum its footprint is still relatively large for an Architecture model.

The model is not built all too complicatedly. The playful Rococo flair primarily lives from the colour composition and the plate modifieds in the roof balustrades emulating the sandstone vases. And this part was also the primary problem with the model, as those good old 1x4 fences are extremely rare in tan and the model needs almost 50 of them. But I liked the design too much when I realized how rare they actually are, so I just tried to collect enough of them over time. That's why the project was in the works for about 20 months. However, I have also included a version with grey balustrades on Rebrickable, which is a lot easier to assemble, albeit IMHO not as beautiful and stylistically coherent as the tan version.

I'm especially satisfied with how the colonnades on the nothern side turned out. Luckily, the proportions of the circle fit rather well to the not too small roof pieces and the whole column pattern worked out perfectly (it's even the correct number of columns, if you treat one LEGO column as one column pair from the original). Unfortunately, though, the model doesn't include the height changes of the terrain outside of the colonnades, but that's ultimately the compromise of a free-standing Architecture model and is mitigated a little by the rather tightly cut base.

I also chose to integrate lighting again, unfortunately only possible for the main wing, though. With 5 LEDs the whole things is sufficiently lit and the power cable can be led to the back under the base, where it leaves the base through a little gap in the frame. There are building instructions for the model on Rebrickable.