Zwinger, Dresden

Interesting facts

The Nymphenbad was the only part of the Zwinger to come through the fire-bombing of February 1945 essentially intact.

Its cascades were fed from a copper tank in the tower of the Wilsdruff Gate; when the tower was pulled down, the fountain ran dry for almost a century.

The original waterworks included trick jets, and guests walking down the stairs into the Nymphenbad could find themselves suddenly sprayed.

The Crown Gate was reached only by a narrow wooden footbridge over the moat, designed to be dismantled quickly in case of attack.

The galleries were built to shelter orange trees in winter and at first had wooden roofs that could be removed in summer, made permanent only in 1723.

The porcelain bells of the carillon were originally gilded; those destroyed in the war were replaced with white ones when the pavilion was rebuilt.

Before planning the complex further, Pöppelmann travelled in 1715 to study Versailles, Marly and other palaces in France and the Netherlands.

In the 19th century the stonework was coated with oil varnish and patched with new Portland cement, treatments that sped up its decay.

About fifty carved faces of water spirits look down on the nymph figures lining the walls of the Nymphenbad.

Pöppelmann's book of engravings of the Zwinger, published in 1729, later guided restorers rebuilding the complex after 1945.

Why it is worth it

The Zwinger is a Baroque stage set in stone: a vast courtyard enclosed by single-storey galleries and tall pavilions, so densely covered with sculpture, balustrades, urns and garlands that the architecture seems to dissolve into ornament. It was built between 1710 and 1728 for Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, by the architect Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, with sculpture by Balthasar Permoser. The name comes from the medieval term for the strip of ground between the outer and inner city walls, where the complex was laid out; it began as an orangery for overwintering exotic plants and quickly became an open-air festival hall for the court.

Each pavilion has its own character. The Crown Gate, raised in 1714–1718, is crowned by four Polish eagles bearing a copy of the Polish royal crown, a reminder of the elector's second throne. On the Wall Pavilion, Permoser's Hercules Saxonicus shoulders the globe above the Saxon-Polish arms. Tucked behind the galleries, the Nymphenbad is less a bath than a water theatre open to the sky, with cascades, a grotto and nymph figures. The Glockenspiel Pavilion holds a carillon of 40 Meissen porcelain bells, enlarged to that number in 1933, which plays at every quarter hour. In September 1719 the courtyard hosted the "Festival of the Four Elements", part of the celebrations for the marriage of the electoral prince Frederick Augustus to Maria Josepha of Austria.

Dresden itself, the Saxon capital on the Elbe, flourished as a court city of art collections and festivities under Augustus and his son. The Zwinger was left open on the side facing today's Theatre Square until Gottfried Semper closed it with a picture gallery built in 1847–1855, which now houses the Old Masters collection, including Raphael's Sistine Madonna. The complex was heavily damaged in the bombing of February 1945; reconstruction under Hubert Ermisch began that same year and was complete by 1963. The pavilions also house the Porcelain Collection and the Royal Cabinet of Mathematical and Physical Instruments.

Getting there

The Zwinger stands in Dresden's historic centre, next to Theatre Square and the Semperoper, about 0.4 km from the city centre. Dresden Airport (DRS) is about 9 km away.

From the encyclopaedia

The Zwinger is a palatial complex with gardens in Dresden, Germany. Designed by architect Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, it is one of the most important buildings of the Baroque period in Germany. Along with the Frauenkirche, the Zwinger is the most famous architectural monument of Dresden.

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Zwinger, Dresden

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

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From the encyclopaedia