The Ruinenberg is a hill in the Bornstedt borough of

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 ...

, located north of

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 ...

. In 1748, the

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

king

Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...

had a

water tank A water tank is a container for Water storage, storing water, for many applications, drinking water, irrigation, fire suppression, farming, both for plants and livestock, chemical manufacturing, food preparation as well as many other uses. Water ...

with a capacity of around built on top to supply the Sanssouci

water feature In landscape architecture and garden design, a water feature is one or more items from a range of fountains, jeux d'eau, pools, ponds, rills, artificial waterfalls, and streams. Before the 18th century they were usually powered by gravity ...

s, and had it decorated with

artificial ruins Artificial ruins or imitation ruins are edifice fragments built to resemble real remnants of ancient ruins in European landscape parks and estates of the nobility of the 18th and 19th centuries. Ruins were built to aestheticize the destruction ...

. From 1841 a surrounding

landscape garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "Landscape architecture, landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, r ...

was laid out at the behest of King

Frederick William IV of Prussia 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 th ...

, according to plans designed by

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 ...

History

The lands around the former ''Hünenberg'' hill had been part of the

partridge A partridge is a medium-sized Galliformes, galliform bird in any of several genera, with a wide Indigenous (ecology), native distribution throughout parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. Several species have been introduced to the Americas. They ar ...

and

pheasant Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera's native range is restricted to Eura ...

hunting grounds of Frederick's father King

Frederick William I of Prussia Frederick William I (; 14 August 1688 – 31 May 1740), known as the Soldier King (), was King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death in 1740, as well as Prince of Neuchâtel. Born in Berlin, he was raised by the Hugu ...

. His son Frederick the Great began the erection of

Sanssouci Palace Sanssouci () is a historical building in Potsdam, near Berlin. Built by Prussian King Frederick the Great as his summer palace, it is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style and ...

in 1745. Frederick wanted a lot of water for his then planned projects: a fountain complex, the

Neptune Grotto Neptune Grotto, 2019 Neptune Grotto, 2009 The Neptune Grotto (German: Neptungrotte) close to the Obelisk entrance in Sanssouci Park, Potsdam, was created by Frederick the Great between 1751 and to beautify the park. Built following plans by ...

, and a marble colonnade in

, which is no longer standing. The plans intended to draw water from the

Havel The Havel () is a river in northeastern Germany, flowing through the States of Germany, states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt. The long Havel is a right tributary of the Elbe. However, the direct distance from ...

with windmills into the high basin on the mountain. It then flowed under the park through a tubular system of hollowed tree trunks, which was to bring the water up into the fountains. Though the king poured a great deal of money into the project, it yielded no success because of the technical ignorance of his men. After many years of effort, Frederick's dream of fountains was finally given up in 1780. In a letter to

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

, he wrote in 1778:

I wanted to have a water jet in my garden:
Euler Leonhard Euler ( ; ; ; 15 April 170718 September 1783) was a Swiss polymath who was active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, logician, geographer, and engineer. He founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made influential ...
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 Ecclesiastes ( ) is one of the Ketuvim ('Writings') of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly used in English is a Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of the Hebrew word ...
! Vanity of geometry!

Master Builder

Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff (Hans) Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff (17 February 1699 – 16 September 1753) was a painter and architect in Prussia. Knobelsdorff was born in Kuckädel, now in Krosno Odrzańskie County. A soldier in the service of Prussia, he resigned his ...

and Theater Painter

Innocente Bellavite Zaccaria Mouhib (; born 26 June 2001), known professionally as Baby Gang, is an Italian rapper. He began his musical career in 2018, releasing his debut EP, ''EP1'', in 2021. Career In 2018, Baby Gang released his debut single, "Street", in Cal ...

designed blinds of imitation antique ruins. A

Monopteros A monopteros (Ancient Greek: , from: μόνος, 'only, single, alone', and , 'wing'), also called a monopteron or cyclostyle, is a circular colonnade supporting a roof but without any walls.Curl, James Stevens (2006). ''Oxford Dictionary of Archi ...

(round temple), three high

ionic column The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite o ...

s, a small pyramid, and a ruined wall, designed as if from a

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 ...

theatre, were grouped around the pool. Around a century after the construction of Sanssouci,

Friedrich Wilhelm 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 ...

realized Frederick's dream. Through new technical possibilities of the

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

and a modern piping system, the fountains were put into place. A building was erected especially for the steam engine (

August Borsig Johann Karl Friedrich August Borsig (; 23 June 1804 – 6 July 1854) was a German businessman who founded the ''Borsig-Werke'' factory. Borsig was born in Breslau (Wrocław), the son of cuirassier and carpenter foreman Johann George Borsig. Aft ...

) and its pump machine from 1841 to 1843 on the shore of the Havel. Disguised as a mosque, it was designed by

Ludwig Persius Friedrich Ludwig Persius (15 February 1803 in Potsdam – 12 July 1845 in Potsdam) was a Prussian architect and a student of Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Persius assisted Schinkel with, among others, the building of the Charlottenhof Palace an ...

. Persius also had plans to extend the theater wall on the Ruinenberg with a high look-out tower, in imitation of a medieval watchtower. After his early death, the so-called ''Norman Tower'' was built by

Ferdinand von Arnim Heinrich Ludwig Ferdinand von Arnim (15 September 1814 – 23 March 1866) was a German architect and watercolour-painter. He was a student of Karl Friedrich Schinkel and mainly worked in Berlin and Potsdam. Life Arnim was born in Trep ...

in 1846.

References

*The information in this article is based on a translation of its German equivalent.

External links

The Ruinenberg, the Nordic Garden and Sicilian Garden, and the PotentestückThe Steam Engine Building

The Norman TowerPotsdam from Above – Ruinenberg
{{coord, 52, 24, 35.50, N, 13, 02, 16.60, E, region:DE-BB_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title Geography of Potsdam Buildings and structures in Potsdam Sanssouci Park