Golden Rider (equestrian statue)
The Golden Rider is an equestrian statue of the Saxon Elector and Polish King August the Strong , which is located on the Neustädter Markt in Dresden between Augustusbrücke and Hauptstrasse . It is considered the most famous monument in Dresden and one of the most important sculptures of the Dresden Baroque .
The statue shows August as Roman Caesar with armor and riding a courtesy Lipizzaner stallion in a northeastern direction towards the Polish kingdom . The prince is shown larger than life. Originally the rider and horse were fire-gilded . Gold leaf was used for the 1956 restoration .
history
As early as 1704, August the Strong commissioned the sculptor Balthasar Permoser to have the design of a "horse with the person sitting on it, so Eu .: Maj .: should present, made by me". It was never carried out, but the idea of an equestrian statue was not given up. A model and drafts for the base reliefs are likely to have been created by 1715, presumably as an application by Zacharias Longuelune for his appointment at the construction department. Subsequently, however, neither François Coudray nor his colleague Jean Joseph Vinache succeeded in receiving the order. A model by Paul Heermann was created in the early 1720s and Johann Christian Kirchner also supplied one.
When all efforts to cast the monument in bronze, inconclusive remained, it was from 1732 to 1734 by Ludwig Wiedemann in copper driven and gilt. The Vinache design is said to have served as a model. It depicts August the Strong in Caesar costume on a courtesy horse. The king had died in early 1733. The foundation stone for the base, designed by Longuelune , was laid in 1735 and the monument was unveiled on November 26, 1736.
The equestrian statue was originally intended for the central courtyard of the new baroque residence planned next to the Zwinger . In 1730 a model was set up on a trial basis on the newly designed Augustus Bridge . With the Neustädter Markt, in front of Longuelune's log house (“Neustädter Wache”) from 1730, a worthy location was finally found at his suggestion, since the design of the Inner Neustadt is one of August the Strong's enduring achievements.
The sculpture was first restored by Constantin Lipsius in 1884 . In addition, Lipsius completed the base with a Latin inscription in 1885.
Between 1943 and 1944 the memorial was dismantled and relocated due to the war. The sculptor Walter Flemming put the statue back together and restored it between 1953 and 1956. In 1956 the equestrian monument was re-erected as part of Dresden's 750th anniversary celebration. It was covered again with gold leaf in 1965.
Between 2001 and 2003 the sculpture was restored again. In the summer of 2011, the Golden Rider was repeatedly damaged by various perpetrators, including the scabbard being broken off.
inscription
Frid (ericus) Augustus I.
dux saxoniae s (acri) r (omani) i (mperii) princeps elector archimareschalcus idemque rex poloniae
Augustus II.
Friedrich August I,
Duke of Saxony, Elector and Archmarschall of the Holy Roman Empire, King of Poland.
August II
Others
The Golden Rider is one of the landmarks of Dresden. A prize from the Dresden Film Festival and a scout tribe based in Dresden were named after the statue.
The Golden Rider is also adorned with a seal of quality for Dresden Christmas stollen, which is issued by the “Schutzverband Dresdner Stollen e. V. “, an interest group for Dresden bakers and confectioners.
In the 1980s, a beer called "Goldener Reiter" was offered in the delikat sales outlets in the GDR , on the label of which the equestrian statue was depicted. The brand is now used by the Bergquell brewery Löbau .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Restoration of the Golden Rider - a look at history. (No longer available online.) In: dresden.de. State capital Dresden , archived from the original on July 25, 2014 ; Retrieved July 19, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Hagen Bächler and Monika Schlechte: Guide to the Baroque in Dresden , Dortmund 1991, p. 30
- ↑ Bächler / Schlechte ibid.
- ^ Saxony: Golden Rider in Dresden "disarmed" by vandals. In: sz-online.de . DD + V, July 18, 2011, accessed July 19, 2011 .
- ^ Dresden - artist knocks out teeth from lion sculpture. In: mz-web.de . Mitteldeutsches Druck- und Verlagshaus, August 8, 2011, accessed on August 8, 2011 .
- ↑ Golden Rider. Bergquell-Brauerei Löbau, accessed on January 25, 2015 .
literature
- Cornelius Gurlitt : The equestrian monument to Augustus the strong. In: Cornelius Gurlitt: City of Dresden (= descriptive representation of the older architectural and art monuments of the Kingdom of Saxony. Issue 23, ZDB -ID 539994-4 ). Part 3. CC Meinhold & Söhne, Dresden 1903, pp. 622-625, digitized SLUB Dresden .
Web links
- Restoration of the Golden Rider. In: dresden.de. State capital Dresden, accessed on July 19, 2011 .
Coordinates: 51 ° 3 ′ 29.2 " N , 13 ° 44 ′ 28.8" E