Giant Hall (Dresden)

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New giant hall in the residential palace

The Riesensaal with a length of 57 meters and a width of 13 meters, the largest room in Dresden Castle and is located in the east wing of the Dresden lock along the Schlossstrasse . It got its name from the figures of "giants" that were formerly painted on the window reveals . It was built by Caspar Voigt von Wierandt around 1550 , completed around 1650 and then destroyed in the castle fire in 1701 and its successor rooms during the air raids on Dresden in February 1945. Until 1701, the hall was considered to be the “main work of Mannerism ”. Today the giant hall, restored to its original dimensions by the architect Peter Kulka, houses the armory of the Dresden State Art Collections .

history

The giant hall in the Dresden Residenzschloss ; Ceremony of the award of the Order of the Garter, here to Johann Georg IV. In 1693
Giant Hall during the reconstruction (exhibition opening "Drache China & Adler Sachsen")

The giant hall goes back to the former "Dantzsall", which was already the center of the Dresden residence around 1480 . In 1547, Elector Moritz commissioned Caspar Voigt von Wierandt to convert the Dresden residential palace into a renaissance palace , with which the giant hall was built in its current dimensions from 1548 to 1553. With a length of 57 meters, a width of 13 meters and a height of almost ten meters, it was the largest room in the castle. It stretched through the second floor of the entire east wing to the Elbe.

Lucas Cranach the Younger decorated the hall. The Tola brothers painted gigantic Roman warriors in the window reveals as a fresco , after which the hall was named. From 1627 to 1633 Wilhelm Dilich rebuilt the room again. Kilian Fabritius painted 17 city views of Saxony based on models from Wilhelm Dilich . These are considered to be the "earliest example of Saxon landscape and vedute painting ". In 1627 the hall was vaulted with a wooden ceiling in a flat arch and decorated with signs of the zodiac . The giant hall, often referred to as the main work of Mannerism , was completed in 1650 and used for lavish celebrations and masked balls. The great castle fire in 1701 destroyed the hall.

Between 1717 and 1719 the palace, including the giant hall, was rebuilt as a baroque residence; the giant hall was again used for celebrations, including the wedding of the electoral prince in 1719.

After the death of August the Strong in 1733, his son Friedrich August II had a false ceiling installed in the high room and several small rooms for his children and a chapel for his wife, Maria Josepha of Austria . The giant hall disappeared for about 280 years.

During the bombing raids on Dresden in February 1945 , the rooms that were formed from the former hall, like the entire castle, were also destroyed.

For the reconstruction of the palace in 1974 the reconstruction of the giant hall in the version of 1627 was given conceptually in a "monument preservation objective" and was decided in 1979. The use for the armory also goes back to these considerations and was specified in 1986. Initially, however, it was not possible to rebuild it, as the remains of the wall were first torn down to create a crane runway. It was only when the palace was rebuilt in the period after 1990 that the walls were closed again, creating the possibility of rebuilding the giant hall.

The architect Peter Kulka finally created the hall in the dimensions of the early baroque ballroom. The barrel vault was also restored. The east facade (outside) was rebuilt based on the 19th century model, the west facade (courtyard side) based on the 16th century model. This is also evident from the different window shapes inside.

exhibition

Since February 19, 2013, around 380 parts of the armory have been exhibited in the giant hall . These include historical weapons, clothes, armor and paintings from the 15th to 17th centuries. From the giant hall you can reach the small ballroom in the Georgenbau via the silver weapon hall .

Web links

Commons : Riesensaal  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

literature

  • Fritz Löffler: The old Dresden - history of its buildings . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1981, ISBN 3-363-00007-3 .
  • State art collections (ed.): The Dresden Castle - Monument of Saxon history and culture. Dresden, 1990, without ISBN. In this:
    • Gerhard Glaser : Destruction and efforts to rebuild. A chronicle. Pp. 109–117 (timetable),
    • Gerhard Glaser: The monument preservation objective , p. 119, and
    • Peter Albert: The future use. Pp. 120-124.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Fritz Löffler: The old Dresden - history of its buildings . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1981, 17th edition 2012, ISBN 978-3-86502-000-0 , image no. 73, p. 63.
  2. ^ Institute for Monument Preservation Dresden: The Dresden Castle (1990)
  3. ^ Fritz Löffler: The old Dresden - history of its buildings . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1981, 17th edition 2012, ISBN 978-3-86502-000-0 , p. 37.
  4. ↑ Riesensaal on skd.de , accessed on April 21, 2018.
  5. ^ Zeittafel, p. 117, Glaser, p. 119, Albert, p. 121.
  6. ↑ Last tickets for the giant hall. sz-online.de, April 21, 2018, accessed on February 13, 2013 .

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