DEL.ICIO.USFROM ATLANTA TO ... DRESDEN, GERMANY
Dresden’s art collections are world-class
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Dresden, Germany — Anytime you pass under an enormous, partially gilded crown to enter a museum complex, you know the treasures within will befit royalty. The Zwinger, home to part of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Dresden State Collections), won’t disappoint.
The Zwinger dates to the early 1700s, when it was commissioned by Augustus the Strong (1670-1733), an art lover who could give Italy’s Medici family or France’s Louis XIV a run for their money (and ambition).
Dresden State Collections
The 18th-century Zwinger in Dresden, Germany, is home to part of the Dresden State Collections.
Dresden State Collections
The Dresden Green diamond weighs in at almost 41 carats.
- Photos: Travel / International Galleries
- Latest deals!
- Back to: Travel | U.S. and international destinations
Its exhibition galleries encompass a wide courtyard with pavilions, pools, fountains and well-manicured parcels of grass. Part of the collection is in the Residenzschloss (Royal Palace), just to the east of the Zwinger.
Augustus’ interests were varied, as are the objects that range from old masters’ paintings, to porcelain, to gems to armor. He didn’t amass the entire collection; his son and successor, Augustus III (1696-1763), understood extravagance, too.
The Zwinger was among the first reconstruction projects after World War II. During the war, much of the collection was safely stored in mines. When fighting ceased in 1945, the Soviet army took home a vast number of works, though they were eventually returned.
Here are five top areas to explore from the Dresden State Collections:
1 The Dresden Green (at the Residenzschloss). At nearly 41 carats, this apple-green pear-shaped diamond is the largest natural green diamond in the world. The glittering attraction has its own darkened room, where visitors file past its spotlighted case for a closer look. The stone rests at the bottom of a rather gaudy setting, surrounded by 350 lesser white diamonds, though some are of hefty size themselves. The Dresden Green is believed to have come from the Golconda mine in India, the same source of the famous blue Hope diamond. In fact, the two were displayed together at the Smithsonian Institution eight years ago.
2 The porcelain collection (Zwinger). Several thousand Chinese, Japanese and Korean pieces, from delicate teapots and plates to large vases and fishbowls, line the Zwinger’s columned galleries, but it’s the 90 large white animal figures made in nearby Meissen that will get your attention. Climbing monkeys, peacocks with their tails fanned out, a lamb, a lion, a leopard, swans — it’s a veritable Noah’s ark of creatures, though they aren’t in pairs.
3 The Old Masters Gallery (Zwinger), particularly the 12 Rembrandts. Don’t miss “Self-portrait With Saskia,” in which the artist, with a hint of a grin, looks over his left shoulder at his audience, a feathered hat jauntily on his head. His wife, perched on his knee with her back to viewers, peers over her right shoulder. This and many of the paintings are not covered by glass and, in a rarity for a major museum, you can get very close to the masterpieces.
4 The armory (Zwinger). Ornately decorated suits of armor for man and horse, fierce swords, even fiercer battle- axes, maces, daggers, helmets and shields, pistols and rifles. If it could inflict bodily damage in warfare, there’s an example of it here.
5 “The Court at Delhi During the Birthday of the Grand Mogul Aureng-Zeb” (Residenzschloss) is an over-the-top tableau, more than 4 feet wide, that depicts a colorful celebration. Tiny bowing courtiers bearing gifts, costumed servants leading elaborately draped elephants or camels and attendants carrying vases up ramps all pay homage to the Indian figure seated at the top of golden stairs. The setting has more than 100 small, exquisitely crafted enameled figures dotted with more than 5,000 diamonds, rubies, emeralds and pearls.
Information
A one-day ticket is 12 euros (about $18). It allows entrance into the series of buildings that display the Dresden State Collections, including the New Green Vault, home of the Dresden Green. To see treasures in the Historic Green Vault, a separate timed ticket must be purchased in advance. The New Masters Gallery and the collections of sculpture and scientific instruments are closed for renovation until 2010. Guided tours are available in English if booked in advance. Dresden State Collections: 011-49-0-351-49-14-20-00, www.skd-dresden.de.
Services »
