the Postplatz, adorned by a Gothic fountain, by Semper; and the Bismarckplatz in the Anglo-American quarter. In the Neustadt are the market square, with a bronze equestrian statue of Augustus the Strong; the Kaiser Wilhelmplatz; and the Albertplatz. The continuous Schloss-, See- and Prager-Strasse, and the Wilsdruffer- and König Johann-Strasse are the main streets in the Altstadt, and the Hauptstrasse in the Neustadt.
The most imposing churches include the Roman Catholic Hofkirche, built (1739–1751) by C. Chiaveri, in rococo style, with a tower 300 ft. high. It contains a fine organ by Silbermann and pictures by Raphael Mengs and other artists, the outside being adorned with 59 statues by Mattielli. On the Neumarkt is the Frauenkirche, with a stone cupola rising to the height of 311 ft.; close to the Altmarkt, the Kreuzkirche, rebuilt after destruction by fire in 1897, also with a lofty tower surmounted by a cupola; and near the Postplatz the Sophienkirche, with twin spires. In the Neustadt is the Dreikönigskirche (dating from the 18th century) with a high pinnacled tower. Among more modern churches may be mentioned: in the Altstadt, the Johanneskirche, with a richly decorated interior; the Lukaskirche; and the Trinitatiskirche; and in the Neustadt, the Martin Luther-Kirche and the new garrison church. Apart from the chapels in the royal palaces, Dresden contains in all 32 churches, viz. 21 Evangelical, 6 Roman Catholic, a Reformed, a Russian, an English (erected by Gilbert Scott) with a graceful spire, a Scottish (Presbyterian), and an American (Episcopal) church, the last a handsome building, with a pretty parsonage attached.
Of secular buildings, the most noteworthy are grouped in the Altstadt near the river. The royal palace, built in 1530–1535 by Duke George (and thus called Georgenschloss), was thoroughly restored, and in some measure rebuilt between 1890 and 1902, in German Renaissance style, and is now an exceedingly handsome structure. The Georgentor has been widened, and through it, and beneath the royal apartments, vehicular traffic from the centre of the town is directed to the Augustusbrücke. The whole is surmounted by a lofty tower—387 ft.—the highest in Dresden. The interior is splendidly decorated. In the palace chapel are pictures by Rembrandt, Nicolas Poussin, Guido Reni and Annibale Caracci. The adjoining Prinzen-Palais on the Taschenberg, built in 1715, has a fine chapel, in which are various works of S. Torelli; it has also a library of 20,000 volumes. The Zwinger, begun in 1711, and built in the rococo style, forms an enclosure, within which is a statue of King Frederick Augustus I. It was intended to be the vestibule to a palace, but now contains a number of collections of great value. Until 1846 it was open at the north side; but this space has since been occupied by the museum, a beautiful Renaissance building, the exterior of which is adorned by statues of Michelangelo, Raphael, Giotto, Dante, Goethe and other artists and poets by Rietschel and Hähnel, and it contains the famous picture gallery. The Brühl palace, built in 1737 by Count Brühl, the minister of Augustus II., has been in some measure demolished to make room for the new Ständehaus (diet house), with its main façade facing the Hofkirche; before the main entrance there is an equestrian statue (1906) of King Albert. Close by is the Brühl Terrace, approached by a fine flight of steps, on which are groups, by Schilling, representing Morning, Evening, Day and Night. The terrace commands a view of the Elbe and the distant heights of Loschwitz and the Weisser Hirsch, but the prospect has of late years become somewhat marred, owing to the extension of the town up the river and to the two new up-stream bridges. The Japanese palace in the Neustadt, built in 1715 as a summer residence for Augustus II., receives its name from certain oriental figures with which it is decorated; it is sometimes called the Augusteum and contains the royal library. Among other buildings of note is the Hoftheatre, a magnificent edifice in the Renaissance style, built after the designs of Semper, to replace the theatre burnt in 1869, and completed in 1878. A new town hall of huge dimensions, also in German Renaissance, with an octagon tower 400 ft. in height, stands on the former southern ramparts of the inner town, close to the Kreuzkirche. In the Altstadt the most striking of the newer edifices is the Kunstakademie, constructed from designs by K. Lipsius in the Italian Renaissance style, 1890–1894. The Albertinum, formerly the arsenal, built in 1559–1563, was rebuilt 1884–1889, and fitted up as a museum of oriental and classical antiquities, and as the depository of the state archives. On the right bank of the Elbe in Neustadt stand the fine buildings of the ministries of war, of finance, justice, the interior and education. The public monuments of Dresden also include the Moritz Monument, a relief dedicated by the elector Augustus to his brother Maurice, a statue of Weber the composer by Rietschel, a bronze statue of Theodor Körner by Hähnel, the Rietschel monument on the Brühl Terrace by Schilling, a bust of Gutzkow, and a statue of Bismarck on the promenade. In the suburbs which encircle the old town are to be noted the vast central Hauptbahnhof (1893–1898) occupying the site of the old Böhmischer railway station, the new premises of the municipal hospital and the Ausstellungs-Halle (exhibition buildings).
The chief pleasure-ground of Dresden is the Grosser Garten, in which there are a summer theatre, the Reitschel museum, and a château containing a museum of antiquities. The latter is composed chiefly of objects removed from the churches in consequence of the Reformation. Near the château is the zoological garden, formed in 1860, and excellently arranged. A little to the south of Dresden, on the left bank of the Elbe, is the village Räcknitz, in which is Moreau’s monument, erected on the spot where he was mortally wounded in 1813. The mountains of Saxon Switzerland are seen from this neighbourhood.
Art.—Dresden owes a large part of its fame to its extensive artistic, literary and scientific collections. Of these the most valuable is its splendid picture gallery, founded by Augustus I. and increased by his successors at great cost. It is in the museum, and contains about 2500 pictures, being especially rich in specimens of the Italian, Dutch and Flemish schools. The gem of the collection is Raphael’s “Madonna di San Sisto,” for which a room is set apart. There is also a special room for the “Madonna” of the younger Holbein. Other paintings with which the name of the gallery is generally associated are Correggio’s “La Notte” and “Mary Magdalene”; Titian’s “Tribute Money” and “Venus”; “The Adoration” and “The Marriage in Cana,” by Paul Veronese; Andrea del Sarto’s “Abraham’s Sacrifice”; Rembrandt’s “Portrait of Himself with his Wife sitting on his Knee”; “The Judgment of Paris” and “The Boar Hunt,” by Rubens; Van Dyck’s “Charles I., his Queen, and their Children.”
Of modern painters, this magnificent collection contains masterpieces by Defregger, Vautier, Makart, Munkacsy, Fritz von Uhde, Böcklin, Hans Thoma; portraits by Leon Pohle, Delaroche and Sargent; landscapes by Andreas and Oswald Achenbach and allegorical works by Sascha Schneider. In separate compartments there are a number of crayon portraits, most of them by Rosalba Carriera, and views of Dresden by Canaletto and other artists. Besides the picture gallery the museum includes a magnificent collection of engravings and drawings. There are upwards of 400,000 specimens, arranged in twelve classes, so as to mark the great epochs in the history of art. A collection of casts, likewise in the museum, is designed to display the progress of plastic art from the time of the Egyptians and Assyrians to modern ages. This collection was begun by Raphael Mengs, who secured casts of the most valuable antiques in Italy, some of which no longer exist.
The Japanese palace contains a public library of more than 400,000 volumes, with about 3000 MSS. and 20,000 maps. It is especially rich in the ancient classics, and in works bearing on literary history and the history of Germany, Poland and France. There are also a valuable cabinet of coins and a collection of ancient works of art. A collection of porcelain in the “Museum Johanneum” (which once contained the picture gallery) is made up of specimens of Chinese, Japanese, East Indian, Sèvres and Meissen manufacture, carefully arranged in chronological order. There is in the same building an excellent Historical Museum. In the Grüne Gewölbe (Green Vault) of the Royal Palace, so called from the character of its original decorations, there is an unequalled collection of precious stones, pearls and works of art in gold, silver, amber and ivory. The objects, which are about 3000
