The Roman Baths (), situated northeast of the

Charlottenhof Palace Charlottenhof Palace or Charlottenhof Manor () is a former royal palace located southwest of Sanssouci Palace in Sanssouci Park at Potsdam, Germany. It is best known as the summer residence of Crown Prince Frederick William (later King Frederic ...

in the

Sanssouci Park Sanssouci Park is a large park surrounding Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, Germany, built under Frederick the Great in the mid-18th century. Following the terracing of the vineyard and the completion of the palace, the surroundings were included in t ...

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

, reflect the ''Italiensehnsucht'' ("

Sehnsucht () is a German noun translated as "longing", "desire", "yearning", or "craving". Some psychologists use the word to represent thoughts and feelings about all facets of life that are unfinished or imperfect, paired with a yearning for ideal alte ...

/longing for

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

") of its creator

Frederick William IV Frederick William IV (; 15 October 1795 – 2 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, was King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 until his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to as the " romanticist on the t ...

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. Various classical

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

and antique

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

s were melded into an

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

ensemble, created between 1829 and 1840.

Design

While still

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

, Frederick William commissioned both Charlottenhof (1826-1829) and the Roman Baths (1834-1840). Coming up with numerous ideas and drawing many actual drafts, the artistically inclined

heir to the throne An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

had considerable influence on the plans of the architect,

Karl Friedrich Schinkel Karl Friedrich Schinkel (13 March 1781 – 9 October 1841) was a Prussian architect, urban planning, city planner and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed b ...

. Charged with managing the actual construction was one of Schinkel's students, Ludwig Persius.

Style

The gardener's house (''Gärtnerhaus'') (1829–30) and the adjacent house for the gardener's helpers (''Gärtnergehilfenhaus'') (1832) were both built in Italian country villa style (''Landhausstil''). The Roman Bath, which gave its name to the ensemble in its entirety, was styled after ancient

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...

s. Together with a small tea

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

(''Teepavillon'') (1830), modelled on temples of

classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...

, they form a complex of buildings tied together by

pergola A pergola is most commonly used as an outdoor garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support crossbeams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are t ...

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

s and garden spaces. The individual buildings were largely inspired by Schinkel's second trip to Italy in 1828. Thus the Roman Bath, which has never actually been used as a bathing facility, came into being thanks purely to the romantic fantasy of the royal

Italophile Italophilia is the admiration, general appreciation or love of Italy, its people, culture, and its significant contributions to Western civilization. Italophilia includes Romanophilia, the appreciation of the Italian capital of Rome and its anc ...

. The names of the rooms connote a mixture of antique villas and Roman baths. The atrium, the courtyard of a Roman house, is the reception area. The

Impluvium The ''impluvium'' (: ''impluvia'') is a water-catchment pool system meant to capture rain-water flowing from the ''compluvium'', an area of roof. Often placed in a courtyard, under an opening in the roof, and thus "inside", instead of "outside ...

, actually only a glorified rainwater-collection device, gives its name to the whole room in which it is located. The

Viridarium Roman gardens and ornamental horticulture became highly developed under Roman civilization, and thrived from 150 BC to 350 AD. The Gardens of Lucullus (''Horti Lucullani''), on the Pincian Hill in Rome, introduced the Persian garden to Europe ...

(

greenhouse A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...

) is actually a small garden. Additional names associated with Roman thermal baths are

Apodyterium In ancient Rome, the ''apodyterium'' (from , "undressing room") was the primary entry in the public baths, composed of a large changing room with cubicles or shelves where citizens could store clothing and other belongings while bathing.PBS https: ...

for the changing room and

Caldarium image:Caldarium.JPG, 230px, ''Caldarium'' from the Roman baths at Bath, Somerset, Bath, England. The floor has been removed to reveal the empty space where the hot air flowed through to heat the floor. A (also called a ''calidarium'', ''cella ca ...

Location

The whole nostalgic creation is on the bank of an artificial lake created during

Peter Joseph Lenné Peter Joseph Lenné (the Younger) (29 September 1789 – 23 January 1866) was a Prussian gardener and landscape architect. As director general of the Royal Prussian palaces and parks in Potsdam and Berlin, his work shaped the development of 1 ...

's landscaping of the Charlottenhof grounds. The so-called machine pond (''Maschinenteich'') gets its name from a steam engine building and an adjacent pumping station torn down in 1923. The large hull of a well marks the location of the former building. The steam engine was not just responsible for keeping the artificial waters of Charlottenhof moving – its smokestacks were also a symbol of progress and what was at its time advanced technology.

Sources

* Gert Streidt, Klaus Frahm: ''Potsdam. Die Schlösser und Gärten der Hohenzollern''. Cologne: Könemann, 1996. * ''Schloss Charlottenhof und die Römischen Bäder. Amtlicher Führer''. 7th rev. ed. Potsdam: Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg, 1998. * Paul Sigel, Silke Dähmlow, Frank Seehausen and Lucas Elmenhorst: ''Architekturführer Potsdam - Architectural Guide''. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, 2006. .

External links

Roman Baths in Sanssouci Park
- official site {{coord, 52, 23, 52, N, 13, 01, 42, E, region:DE-BB_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title 1840 establishments in Prussia Buildings and structures completed in 1840 Bathing Buildings and structures in Potsdam Prussian cultural sites Sanssouci Park Museums in Potsdam Karl Friedrich Schinkel buildings Frederick William IV of Prussia