A large park called New Garden appeared in Potsdam in the 18th century upon the order of Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm II, an educated monarch and a fan of French culture. Nevertheless, the park turned out to be English and besides, reflected the Kaiser’s passion for mason symbolism.
The territory of the park hosts the Marble palace, Cecilienhof palace, an obelisk, palace kitchen as antique temple ruins, a multi-storey narrow gothic library where the first floor was occupied by books in French and the last by books in German, an orangery with sculptures of sphinx and Egyptian gods at the entrance, a green house and even a refrigerator room for perishable goods in a shape of a small pyramid. It must be mentioned that the park was laid out on the banks of the so-called Holy Lake (Heiliger See).