Belvedere (Dresden)

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Belvedere ( Italian for beautiful view ) is the name of four pleasure palaces that stood one after the other on the northeast corner of the Brühl Terrace in Dresden . The fourth and last Belvedere was built in 1842 based on the first Semper Opera House , in 1945 it fell victim to the war, and reconstruction was offered in 2008 and 2016 by a citizen.

  • First Belvedere

  • Second Belvedere

  • Third Belvedere

  • Fourth Belvedere

First Belvedere (1590–1747)

The first Belvedere was built on the Dresden fortress from 1590 according to plans by Giovanni Maria Nosseni and served court amusements. The construction time was over 60 years. This 24-meter high pleasure house on the Maiden Bastion stood flush with the fortress wall. The three-storey building with curved copper roofs was built in the Renaissance style. The model was probably the Belvedere of Queen Anna at Prague Castle . The sculptures and sculptural decorations were created by Carlo de Cesare and Sebastian Walther using Saxon precious and semi-precious stones. The basement was called volcanic caves . In the laboratory set up here for Johann Friedrich Böttger and Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus , the invention of European hard porcelain succeeded in 1707 . The first Belvedere was destroyed on December 22, 1747 by the explosion of the powder magazine below.

Second Belvedere (1749–1759)

The second Belvedere was built in 1749/1751 on the same site by Johann Christoph Knöffel . The client was Heinrich Graf von Brühl , who received the part of the fortress on the Elbe side from Elector Friedrich August II. After it had increasingly lost its military importance. The second Belvedere is regarded as the highlight of Dresden's Rococo architecture. It has been described as a cabinet piece of architecture . The oval central hall of the building went over two floors, the ceiling and wall zone merged through the sculptural and picturesque design. Johann Gottfried Knöffler created the plastic jewelry. In 1759, during the Seven Years' War , the Belvedere was destroyed on the orders of the Prussian King Friedrich II . Only two stone sphinxes and the dolphin fountain have survived . The Belvedere of Count Brühl was one of the so-called Brühl glories .

Third Belvedere (1814–1842)

Until 1814, the ruins of the second Belvedere remained in memory of the Seven Years' War . Then the architect Christian Friedrich Schuricht built the third Belvedere in the classical style on behalf of Prince Nikolai Grigoryevich Repnin-Volkonsky . It was a base building. In the basement there was a hall supported by Doric columns, the upper floor was a recessed pavilion with a viewing terrace. The building served as a restaurant. The third Belvedere was demolished as early as 1842.

Fourth Belvedere (1842–1945)

The fourth Belvedere was built in 1842 according to plans by Otto von Wolframsdorf . In terms of style, it was based on the Italian Renaissance and the floor plan of Gottfried Semper's first opera house . It had two ballrooms, a drawing room and a viewing gallery. Like the previous building, it was used as a restaurant. In 1945 it was destroyed in the bombing of Dresden .

  • Lithograph, around 1850

  • Fourth Belvedere on a drawing by W. Bässler, around 1850

  • in the 1860s

  • Belvedere on the Brühl Terrace. View of the former gondola port , around 1890

  • Floor plan (approx. 1878)

Todays situation

Except for the remaining sculptures of the second belvedere, nothing today reminds of the former belvedere. In 2008 the city administration made efforts to rebuild a Belvedere. Bernd Dietze from Baywobau started a new attempt at such a reconstruction in 2016.

literature

Web links

Commons : Belvedere (Dresden)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The unfinished Dresden silhouette: where the Belvedere once stood, there is now a gap. Now an investor is pulling old plans out of the drawer. , Sächsische Zeitung , August 18, 2016

Coordinates: 51 ° 3 ′ 10.4 ″  N , 13 ° 44 ′ 42.4 ″  E