Coselpalais

Coselpalais after the reconstruction, on the left the dome of the art academy

The Coselpalais is a Palais in the Inner Old Town in Dresden . With the address An der Frauenkirche 12, it is located northeast of the Frauenkirche at the confluence of Salzgasse on this side square of Neumarkt .

The historic palace was one of the late main works of the Dresden Baroque . After the destruction in World War II, it was gradually rebuilt until 2000 . The palace, which has been reconstructed in a modified form, is used as an office building and restaurant.

Previous buildings

Coselpalais: Gable to the court of honor with the coat of arms of Count Cosel

In the place of the Coselpalais there was a twenty meter high building that was erected after 1560. It was originally used as a wind and horse mill. It was used as a powder tower from the beginning of the 17th century . The Saxon Elector Friedrich August II gave half of the tower as a gift to Oberlandbaumeister Johann Christoph Knöffel and the Higher War Commissioner Caesar. They had the tower demolished in 1744 and Knoeffel built the Caesar and Knoeffel House , two five- story buildings, in its place in 1745/1746 . They were badly damaged in the Seven Years' War in 1760. The Knöffel part of the house facing the Frauenkirche was completely destroyed in the Prussian bombardment of Dresden on July 19, 1760, while the Caesar part of the house, preserved in ruins, was integrated into the new building of the Coselpalais and, for the left half, the side facade of the Palace was duplicated. The original portal on the ground floor with a large segment arch as well as a cartouche and flower chains on the side was changed, for example by a “ arched portal with a shell-shaped keystone and chains of flowers spread over the lintel”.

Side view of the rebuilt gate structures, 1985

Palace building

Friedrich August von Cosel , General of the Infantry and a younger half-brother of the Elector from Augustus the Strong's liaison with Countess Constantia von Cosel , bought the two houses in 1762 and had Julius Heinrich Schwarze build a residential palace in the Dresden Rococo style. Work on the building named after him lasted until 1764.

The building was five storeys high and eleven axes. The main front was structured by pilaster strips with a central risalit and triangular gable. There was a ballroom on the first floor. This building, redesigned by Schwarze, corresponded to the original Knoeffel architecture. Schwarze added two two-story side wings with simple shapes that surrounded the main courtyard. Johann Gottfried Knöffler created the plastic jewelry . The twelve children's sculptures he made on the gate entrance are considered the high point of the Saxon Baroque.

In the first half of the 19th century the palace came into civil ownership. From 1845 to 1853 the "Russian Hotel" was housed here. After that it was used by the police until they moved to the newly built police headquarters in 1901. The Police History Collection of Saxony also has its origin here. Subsequently, the Coselpalais housed, among other things, the Saxon building authority. In February 1945 the palace was destroyed in the air raids on Dresden .

reconstruction

Dresden Neumarkt: Coselpalais. To the right: At the Frauenkirche 13 ( Haus zum Schwan ) and 14 ( Haus zur Glocke )

From 1973 to 1975, on the initiative of Hans Nadler, the wing buildings of the palace were rebuilt in order to enable future reconstruction and to prevent overbuilding of the area.

The main building was reconstructed from 1998 to 2000 , but without the historical inner courtyard. Instead of restoring the courtyard that was structurally necessary for lighting and ventilation, artificially lit floor areas were created. This form of reconstruction is therefore one of the controversial reconstructions of the city. Today it houses several restaurants, the Dresden Piano-Salon GmbH, the MRK Group and offices.

literature

Stadtlexikon Dresden A-Z . Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1995, ISBN 3-364-00300-9 .
Stefan Hertzig : The late Baroque town house in Dresden 1738–1790 . Gesellschaft Historischer Neumarkt Dresden , Dresden 2007, ISBN 3-9807739-4-9 , p. 88-93 .
Daniel Jacob: Baroque aristocratic palaces in Dresden - the buildings, their architects and residents. Publisher Daniel Jacob, 2011.
Helmuth Gröger: Castles and palaces in Saxony. Verlag Heimatwerk Sachsen, Dresden, 1940, article on Palais Cosel with illustration on page 137

Individual evidence

^ Stefan Hertzig : The late Baroque town house in Dresden 1738–1790 . Gesellschaft Historischer Neumarkt Dresden , Dresden 2007, ISBN 3-9807739-4-9 , p. 90 .
^ Stefan Hertzig: The late Baroque town house in Dresden 1738–1790 . Gesellschaft Historischer Neumarkt Dresden, Dresden 2007, ISBN 3-9807739-4-9 , p. 92 .

Web links

Commons : Coselpalais - collection of images, videos and audio files

The history of the Coselpalais

51.052092 13.742588Coordinates: 51 ° 3 ′ 7.5 ″ N , 13 ° 44 ′ 33.3 ″ E

[1] Stefan Hertzig : The late Baroque town house in Dresden 1738–1790 . Gesellschaft Historischer Neumarkt Dresden , Dresden 2007, ISBN 3-9807739-4-9 , p. 90 .

[2] Stefan Hertzig: The late Baroque town house in Dresden 1738–1790 . Gesellschaft Historischer Neumarkt Dresden, Dresden 2007, ISBN 3-9807739-4-9 , p. 92 .