Ruinenberg

From 1841 a surrounding landscape garden was laid out at the behest of King Frederick William IV of Prussia, according to plans designed by Peter Joseph Lenné.

Frederick wanted a lot of water for his then planned projects: a fountain complex, the Neptune Grotto, and a marble colonnade in Sanssouci Park, which is no longer standing.

Vanity of geometry!Master Builder Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff and Theater Painter Innocente Bellavite designed blinds of imitation antique ruins.

A Monopteros (round temple), three high ionic columns, a small pyramid, and a ruined wall, designed as if from a Roman theatre, were grouped around the pool.

Persius also had plans to extend the theater wall on the Ruinenberg with a 23 metres (75 ft) high look-out tower, in imitation of a medieval watchtower.