A masterpiece of European Baroque architecture and home to world-famous museums, Dresden's Zwinger was built as a synthesis of architecture, sculpture and painting between 1710 and 1728 according to plans by the architect Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann. Originally serving as an orangery and the setting for magnificent festivities such as the wedding of the century of Augustus the Strong's son, Friedrich August II, to Maria Josepha of Austria in 1719, the name Zwinger goes back to the name used in the Middle Ages for a fortress section between the outer and inner city walls.
Today, the Zwinger Museum complex houses the spectacular Gemäldegalerie Alter Meister with more than 700 Old Masters paintings, with highlights including a group of Italian Renaissance works by Raphael, Giorgione, and Titian and paintings by Dutch masters Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer, in addition to the breathtaking Dresden Porcelain Collection including Chinese, Japanese, and Meissen porcelain, and the inspiring Royal Cabinet of Mathematical and Physical Instruments. One of the most important buildings of the late Baroque period in the Saxon state capital, the Zwinger and its Meissen porcelain collection was definitely a highlight of our stay in Dresden.
'Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window' c. 1657 by Johannes Vermeer
'Elector Johann der Beständige of Saxony' c 1576 by Lucas Cranach the Elder
'The New Market in Dresden' c 1748 by Canaletto
Inside one of the galleries of the Zwinger
Head of a Muse with Pine Garland, Rome 120AD
This 'Head of Dionysus' with his hand laying overtop caught my eye,
from Rome 2nd-century AD
Time for a slice of Plum Streusel Cake at the Zwinger Café mid morning
The Zwinger Royal Cabinet of Mathematical and Physical Instruments
Geographical Table Clock shows time plus a skullcap-shaped surface that simulates day and night in the Northern hemisphere, made in Prague in 1738
Ornate gold clock indicates time plus a celestial sphere indicating month
Geocentric Armillary Sphere, where earth is fixed in centre, with rings representing equator, elliptic tropics and polar circles, made in Paris 1800
One of the many enormous celestial globes indicating how the heavens moved with signs of the zodiac and exhibiting the time of the year
Gregorian reflecting telescope, by Johann Gottlob Rudolph, Miltitz, c 1748
Golden Globe from the Langgalerie featuring scientific instruments collected around 1560 by Elector August of Saxony for the Dresden Court
Timepiece from the Dresden Court features a tiny drummer who marks the hours of the day
On the hour, the little drummer performs to mark the hour
The lovely building houses the older treasured astronomic telescopes
Newtonian 7' Reflecting Telescope, by William Herschel in London, c.1785 with which he achieved great fame by discovering Uranus in 1781
The imposing Rococo Gregorian Reflecting Telescope was one of the first ones made in Germany
The beautiful stone Brühl's Terrace wraps around the courtyard of the Zimmer museum complex, as we walk ed from the Atronomical Wing and strolled to the Meissen galleries
The Kronentor, also known as the 'Crown Gate', is a magnificent architectural feature perched on Brühl's Terrace of the Zwinger Palace complex
View from Brühl's Terrace over Zwinger with spire of the clock tower
The Meissen Porcelain Collection is located in this Baroque-style confection at the Zwinger Palace
Chinese Meissen motif porcelain display
Seven of the famous 'Dragoon Vases'
Meissen-ware of Equestrian Statue of King Augustus III from 1753
Bust of the Court Jester Gottfried Schmiedel, Meissen 1739
The collection of Meissen Parrots was the highlight of the museum for me
The color and detail is astounding
Vibrant and animated Cockatiel
The Porcelain Collection continued through many halls
Meissen porcelain with Chinese and Japanese decoration including Imari style tureen, plates and bowls
Tableware of the Swan Service of the Prime Minister of Saxony and Poland, Count Heinrich von Bruehl (1700) and his wife Franziska Countess Kolowrat-Krakowsky
Centrepiece of the Meissen dinner service of General Marshall Count Burchard Christoph von Meunnich c.1738
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