Dresden Residenzschloss

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The Dresden Residenzschloss, view from the Zwinger over Sophienstrasse
Castle facade to Schloßstraße

The Dresden Castle is a Renaissance building in the city ​​center of Dresden . It was the seat of the Dresden court and residential palace of the Saxon electors (1547–1806) and kings (1806–1918). As the headquarters of the Albertine line of the Wettin family , it was formative for the cultural development of Dresden from the 16th century. The residential palace is one of the oldest buildings in the city and has significant architectural history, as all styles from Romanesque to historicism have left their mark on the building.

The palace, which has been under reconstruction since the 1980s, is now home to five museums: the historical and the new Green Vault , the Coin Cabinet , the Copper Engraving Cabinet and the Armory with Turkish Chamber . The art library and the general management of the Dresden State Art Collections are also located here.

history

The residential palace of the Electors of Saxony after the renovation from 1468 (view of the lost wooden model)
Ground floor plan of the residential palace in Dresden around 1700 (redrawn in 1901)

In the area of ​​the Schloßstraße there were simple houses built in the 12th century, which were destroyed in a major fire in 1220. In 1289 the castle was first mentioned as a castrum ; the inner courtyard of the castle at that time measured 38 by 36 meters.

Around 1400 the expansion of the castle began under Margrave Wilhelm the One-Eyed to a princely residence. At that time, the lower parts of the Hausmannsturm and the two-storey hall connected to the east were built from scratch. Presumably the ground floor of the hall was occupied by a courtyard room and the upper floor by a stately living apartment. This shifted the focus of the castle complex from the south with the bower built in the 13th century to the north side of the almost square courtyard.

Expansion to a four-wing system from 1468

From 1468 to 1480, the complex was expanded into a closed four-wing complex , which was documented in a wooden model created around 1530 and which has been missing since 1945. The two-storey hall from 1400 in the north was increased by one storey for the women's room and the apartment of the elector was housed in an eastern extension. In the west, the wing with the castle chapel and kitchen area was built. A new three-storey wing was built in the east, presumably with a courtyard room and kitchen on the ground floor, living areas on the first floor and a large ballroom on the second floor. The complex was made accessible through an elaborate gatehouse in the south that was built around 1472 by the court architect Arnold von Westfalen .

Construction of the Georgenbau from 1530

The Georgenbau with the Georgentor located on Schlossplatz was built under Duke Georg 1530–1535. The building, which was later largely changed and only preserved in fragments, was one of the most important buildings of Renaissance architecture in Germany. His figural architectural jewelry, which was made in the workshop of the sculptor Christoph Walther I , was also of great importance . Duke Georg had the old, heavily fortified Elbe Gate on the left Elbe entrance to the bridge replaced by a nearly 30-meter-high residential building. Parts of the medieval Elbe Gate, the former city exit to the Elbe Bridge, were integrated. An arch of the old Elbe bridge has been preserved under the Georgentor .

The current appearance of the Georgenbau goes back to a renovation in 1899. The neo-renaissance facade with a high gable connects the north-east corner of the castle with the chancellery on the other side of Schloßstraße, built between 1565 and 1567 . This facade and the integrated triumphal gate welcomed the visitor when he entered the city of Dresden on the Elbe side.

Enlargement of the residential palace from 1548

The Great Castle Courtyard, built from 1548 (condition during the reconstruction in 2014)
Partial reconstruction of the castle chapel from around 1550 (status 2017)
Castle 1709, view from today's Theaterplatz with the wooden predecessor building of the Zwinger

In the years 1548–1556 the castle courtyard was enlarged to double its size to the west. Using the older components in the east, a magnificent Renaissance castle was created with the new wing on the west side, the three stair towers in the courtyard corners and the arbor with column arcades in front of the Hausmannsturm, which responded to Moritz von Sachsen becoming elector . Renowned artists from outside the court were also brought in for the renovation, such as the brothers Gabriel and Benedetto Tola , who decorated the facades using sgraffito technology . Moritz's brother and successor, Elector August , who ruled from 1553 to 1586, completed the building, which became a major work of the Saxon Renaissance .

A few decades later, 1586–1591, the stable building was built as an extension of the palace complex to the east and the stable courtyard was laid out under Elector Christian I. Almost at the same time, the small courtyard on the south side was built in 1589–1594 with a two-story gatehouse to the east to Schloßstraße according to plans by the architect Paul Buchner .

Adjustments in the baroque

The Hausmannsturm was originally built around 1400 as the new main tower of the castle. In the years 1674–1676, the architect Wolf Caspar von Klengel added a complicated roof landscape and completed it in its current form. With a height of 100.27 meters, it was the tallest tower in Dresden until 1945. This north-western corner tower of the castle, which in 1991 got its top back lost in World War II, is one of the most striking buildings in Dresden. From the viewing platform at a height of 38.62 meters, there is a broad view of Dresden.

A castle fire in 1701 destroyed, among other things, the Georgenbau, the east wing with the giant hall and the Schössereiturm, which were rebuilt in 1717–1719. The interiors on the second floor were designed in Baroque style, including the audience chamber , August the Strong's bedroom , the tower room and the porcelain room . An intermediate wing housed the Old Masters Picture Gallery . The construction management was the engineer officer Johann Georg Maximilian von Fürstenhoff , an illegitimate half-brother of the king. Louis de Silvestre designed the ceiling painting in King Augustus the Strong's bedroom in 1715 and that in the throne room in 1719 .

Between 1723 and 1729, a magnificent collection area consisting of nine rooms was set up on the ground floor of the west wing, which was given the name Green Vault . By 1725, the precious room in the north and the adjoining corner cabinet were created in their current form, incorporating the vaulted architecture and stucco from the Renaissance period. In 1727, August arranged for the original Green Vault to be expanded with wall openings to the south to include additional rooms. The architecture of the treasure chambers was designed by Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann in conjunction with Raymond Leplat .

In 1737 the Lutheran castle chapel was dissolved , which was only partially reconstructed in recent years. The first lightning rod in Dresden was installed on the castle tower in 1775 .

Peal

The tower bell consists of three bronze bells, which act as bells. Below is a data overview of the bell:

No. Casting date Caster diameter Dimensions Chime
1 1857 Bell foundry EF Gruhl 1253 mm 1150 kg it'
2 1857 Bell foundry EF Gruhl 826 mm 330 kg b ′
3 1857 Bell foundry EF Gruhl 608 mm 125 kg it"

Conversions in historicism

View in 1887, before the facade renovation
State of construction 1980

In the years 1889–1901, on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of the House of Wettin, Gustav Frölich and Gustav Dunger carried out a major renovation of the palace with the construction of a new southern wing of the palace and a uniform facade design in neo-renaissance style . In 1899 a wooden transition between the palace and the Catholic court church was completed, popularly known as the "Bridge of Sighs" (after the Ponte dei Sospiri , which connects the Doge's Palace in Venice with the prison on the other side of the canal) because it does not exactly match the image of the two buildings positively influenced. The street below had no name for a long time and was only named Chiaverigasse in March 2007 after the architect of the Hofkirche. As part of the renovation work, a district heating and electricity plant was built in the immediate vicinity of the Semperoper , which heated both the palace and the opera and the newly built police headquarters . The industrial building was designed in a neo-baroque style, taking into account the surrounding fabric.

Between 1904 and 1907 it transferred the on the outside of the barn yard situated Princes to about 23,000 Meissen porcelain tiles . In 1922, a palace museum was opened on the second floor of the residential palace.

Destruction and rebuilding

As a result of the air raids on Dresden towards the end of the Second World War, the castle burned down to its foundation walls on February 13, 1945, and the Green Vault was also damaged. The tin on the roofs melted from the high temperatures. The Hausmannsturm lost its peak; the tower stump was poorly covered in 1946. After the war, mushrooms were grown in part of the vaults for a few years. On February 13, 1985, the day the Semperoper reopened, the then head of state Erich Honecker announced that the exterior of the palace would be restored in 1990. However, in 1989 not even the west wing was finished.

After the German reunification , the Hausmannsturm got its top back in 1991 as part of the reconstruction of the castle. In 2004 the art library was set up, the copper engraving cabinet , a study room and the New Green Vault moved into the west wing and the bear garden wing. In March 2006 the treasury " Historisches Grünes Gewölbe " on the ground floor was reopened . The Fürstengalerie was handed over in August 2009. The restoration of the English Steps and the Turkish Cammer took place in March 2010.

The shell of one of the most important rooms in the palace, the giant hall on the second floor of the east wing, was completed in 2006/2007. Created in 1480 as the central hall of the residence, the giant hall, built in the 16th century in its current dimensions, is the largest room in the palace with a length of almost 60 meters and a width of 13 meters. Part of the armory's new permanent exhibition has been located here since February 2013 .

The castle chapel , in which Heinrich Schütz worked, was reconstructed in 1988/1989 (cubature) and 2010–2013 (ribbed vault). A copy of the Renaissance portal from 1555 was installed in the large castle courtyard as the entrance to the castle chapel. The rebuilding of the Fritzsche organ is being considered.

On January 25, 2019, the restored small ballroom in the Georgenbau was reopened. This is one of the few rooms in the Dresden Palace that have been rebuilt in their original form. It is planned to use it as a special exhibition area. The total construction costs for the restoration of the hall amounted to 6.1 million euros.

future

Covered small courtyard

The large castle courtyard, in which the old sgraffito plastering technique is provided for all facades , is to be used for outdoor events in the future. The small courtyard was covered with a transparent diamond membrane roof designed by the architect Peter Kulka and serves as a visitor foyer. The parade rooms in the west wing were reconstructed in 2019 [out of date] . The rifle collection of the Saxon electors, which is to be presented again in the long corridor between Georgenbau and Johanneum , is expected to be included in the exhibition from autumn 2019 [out of date] . The cost of restoring the castle is estimated at around 380 million euros. The completion of the reconstruction of the residential palace is planned for 2021 (with the exception of the palace chapel).

Exhibitions / museums

The museum complex in the castle includes the historic and the new green vault , the coin cabinet , the copperplate cabinet and the armory with the Turkish Chamber and the Renaissance wing, all of which belong to the Dresden State Art Collections . There is also an art library in the palace for special art-historical literature. Its holdings of 260,000 volumes are based on the collection profile of the museums housed in the palace.

green Vault

The New Green Vault has been on the first floor since 2004 and the Historic Green Vault on the ground floor since 2006. While the art objects themselves are in the foreground in the New Green Vault, the historical vault also impresses with the magnificent furnishings of the rooms. In contrast to the New Green Vault, which can be visited at any time during the opening times, access to the historic vault is only possible with a time ticket purchased in advance.

The historical green vault is located in the vaulted rooms of the castle, so that the late Baroque work of art can be experienced in the original rooms. In the midst of reconstructed Renaissance and Baroque halls, the approximately 3000 exhibits are presented as they were once free on the consoles of magnificent display walls and magnificent tables.

The New Green Vault shows almost 1,100 art treasures from three centuries in 200 showcases as a modern treasury museum. The works of the court goldsmith Johann Melchior Dinglinger and others are exhibited here, including the famous table top for the court of Delhi , the ornamental bowl of Diana's bath , the cherry pit with 185 faces or the Dresden Green Diamond , the largest cut, naturally green diamond.

On November 25, 2019, the collection was broken into and treasures of an unknowable value were stolen.

Engraving Cabinet

The Kupferstich-Kabinett is an art museum for drawings, prints and photographs. Here you can see drawings and graphic sheets from Albrecht Dürer , Rembrandt , Michelangelo and Caspar David Friedrich to Picasso . Copper engravings and woodcuts can be found alongside rare examples from the history of artistic photography . In three-month changing exhibitions, around 100 to 130 objects are shown on specific topics or artists.

Coin Cabinet

Dresden medal from 1676 for the completion of the castle tower equipped with a carillon, present in the coin cabinet

The Münzkabinett holds around 300,000 objects from antiquity to the present. In addition to coins and medals , the collection also includes orders and decorations, historical securities , banknotes , coin and medal stamps as well as mint equipment. Around 3300 exhibits have been on display in the former royal living quarters in the Georgenbau of the castle since 2015 .

Armory and Türckische Cammer

The armory includes historical weapons, clothes, armor and portraits from the 15th to 18th centuries. The entire collection contains around 10,000 works of art, made by goldsmiths and armourers , artisans , painters and courtly costume makers from all over Europe. The focus of the collection is on cutting and stabbing weapons with around 2,200 swords , rapiers and daggers, as well as historical firearms , consisting of around 1,400 pistols and 1,600 rifles.

The Türckische Cammer includes the Ottoman collection of the armory. With more than 600 objects on 750 square meters, it is one of the oldest and most important collections of Ottoman art in the world outside of Turkey . The three-mast tent from the Zeithain camp is well known. Due to their passion for collecting and their striving to represent princely power, the Saxon electors collected treasures of so-called Turkish fashion from the 16th to the 19th century, which can be viewed here.

Renaissance wing of the armory

Moritz Monument in the Residenzschloss

In the renaissance wing of the armory (1st floor) three permanent exhibitions can be visited.

The permanent exhibition “ Worldview and Knowledge around 1600 ” shows works of art from the late Renaissance and collection items from the Dresden Art Chamber , which was set up in Dresden Castle in 1560 by the Saxon Elector August . The exhibition is located in the former private living quarters of the Elector with a view of the Elbe Bridge. Cabinet cabinets, musical instruments, board games, paintings, combination weapons, works of goldsmithing, tools and gardening tools as well as exotic objects from all over the world are shown in seven rooms on around 600 square meters. The damaged baptismal font, precious silver vessels and other original components from the Dresden Palace Chapel refer to the commitment of the Saxon electors to the Lutheran Reformation . The silver weapons hall and the small ballroom can also be visited here.

The permanent exhibition "On the way to electoral power" in the east wing shows the way of the Wettins from obtaining the electoral dignity in 1423 by Friedrich the arguing to the assumption of electoral power by the Albertines Moritz von Sachsen 1547 and August von Sachsen 1553. This also the connections between Electoral power and the Reformation made clear. The focus is on the original of the “ Moritz Monument ” by Hans Walther II (1553–1555), a copy of which can be seen on the Brühl Terrace . It represents the handover of the Kurschwert and thus the power of Elector Moritz to his brother August.

In the exhibition “Elector's Wardrobe” in the north wing, a total of 13 precious vestments by Electors Moritz, August, Christian I , Christian II and Johann Georg I from the Renaissance and early Baroque periods from 1550 to 1650 are presented, including six complete ones Ruler's costumes (e.g. the “landscape dress” from 1611 for Elector Johann Georg I, which depicts the Elbe valley between Dresden and Meißen and is a Christmas present from his mother in the year he took office) and four women's dresses. There is no other museum with such a large number of royal robes.

Parade rooms in the Dresden Residenzschloss

Parade bedroom with the magnificent bed

On September 28, 2019, the royal parade rooms in the Dresden Residenzschloss were reopened. Like the entire castle, they were destroyed in February 1945. The rooms were reconstructed from templates and color photos and furnished with the items that were outsourced at the time, e.g. B. audience chair, fireplace screen and chandelier. The parade rooms include the following rooms:

The tower room with the porcelain cabinet is located in front of the actual parade rooms on the 2nd floor of the Hausmannsturm.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Dresdner Residenzschloss  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Dirk Syndram , Peter Ufer : The return of the Dresden castle . edition Sächsische Zeitung, Dresden 2006, ISBN 3-938325-28-3 , pp. 12-23.
  2. ^ Norbert Oelsner : On the typology of the Dresden castle complex up to the middle of the 15th century. In: State Office for the Preservation of Monuments of Saxony (ed.): The residential palace in Dresden. Volume 1: From the medieval castle to the palace complex of the late Gothic and early Renaissance. Petersberg 2013, pp. 175-188.
  3. ^ Norbert Oelsner: The construction of the late Gothic palace complex (1468 to 1480) and its further development up to the middle of the 16th century. Building task - structures - findings. In: State Office for the Preservation of Monuments of Saxony (ed.): The residential palace in Dresden. Volume 1: From the medieval castle to the palace complex of the late Gothic and early Renaissance. Petersberg 2013, pp. 189-231.
  4. ↑ State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Saxony (ed.): The Residenzschloss zu Dresden, Vol. 2, The palace complex of the Renaissance and its early baroque alterations and designs. Petersberg 2019.
  5. ↑ Angelica Dülberg: The Great Castle Courtyard. Style, iconography and iconology of his sculptural and pictorial jewelry , in: State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Saxony (ed.): The Residenzschloss zu Dresden, Vol. 2, The palace complex of the Renaissance and its early Baroque modifications and designs. Petersberg 2019, pp. 205-260.
  6. ^ Esther Münzberg: Aula enim Principis non equorum videbatur. The new stable and harness chamber building in Dresden 1586. In: Sybille Ebert-Schifferer, Elisabeth Kieven (ed.): Scambio culturale con il nemico religioso. Italia e Sassonia attorno al 1600. (Atti della giornata internazionale di studi nell'ambito della serie di incontri “Roma e il nord”, percorsi e forme dello scambio artistico, April 4 - 5, 2005, Roma, Bibliotheca Hertziana). Milan 2007, pp. 143-151. ( Online version on ART doc of Heidelberg University Library ). Esther Hoppe-Münzberg: The electoral stable and armor building with a long corridor and stable courtyard - a new construction task in the complex of the Dresden Residenzschloss , in: State Office for the Preservation of Monuments of Saxony (ed.): The Residenzschloss zu Dresden, Vol. 2, The palace complex of the Renaissance and their early baroque alterations and refinements. Petersberg 2019, pp. 397-419.
  7. ↑ a b c Harald Marx : The paintings of Louis de Silvestre. Dresden 1975, p. 34.
  8. ↑ Dirk Syndram, Jutta Kappel, Ulrike Weinhold: The baroque treasury. The Green Vault in Dresden. Munich / Berlin 2006.
  9. ↑ a b Rainer Thümmel : Bells in Saxony: Sound between heaven and earth . Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2011, ISBN 978-3-374-02871-9 , pp. 289 .
  10. ^ Dresden Castle Chapel on the Dresden State Art Collections website ( Memento from July 5, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ Roland Eberlein : Another reconstruction project: the organ by Gottfried Fritzsche 1610–12 in the Dresden Castle Chapel is to be rebuilt. (PDF; 0.4 MB). On the website of the Walker Foundation for Organ Research, accessed on October 13, 2015.
  12. ↑ Jürgen Helfricht : Blessing for our castle. In: image . December 24, 2014.
  13. ↑ The residential palace. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden , accessed on April 9, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Season tickets for the historic Green Vault and combination tickets. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden , accessed on April 9, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Dirk Syndram: Showpieces of the Green Vault in Dresden. 5th edition. Seemann, Leipzig 2006, ISBN 3-86502-150-6 .
  16. ↑ Kupferstich-Kabinett. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden , accessed on April 9, 2018 .
  17. ↑ Coin Cabinet. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden , accessed on April 9, 2018 .
  18. ↑ Turkish Cammer. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden , accessed on April 9, 2018 .
  19. ↑ Power and fashion: weapons and haute couture of the Renaissance in Dresden. In: NRZ . April 4, 2017, accessed on June 14, 2019 (DPA text).
  20. ↑ In the heart chamber of power and splendor. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . April 10, 2017, p. 11.

Coordinates: 51 ° 3 ′ 9.9 ″  N , 13 ° 44 ′ 12.9 ″  E