The best way to start a sightseeing visit to Dresden is to take the lift up to the open-air viewing gallery around the base of the dome of the Frauenkirche. 67 metres up, it offers spectacular views over the city centre and the broad River Elbe running through it.
Sightseeing in Dresden
A sightseeing trip to Dresden should start at the Frauenkirche - Church of Our Lady. One of Europe’s baroque masterpieces, it was painstakingly rebuilt, stone by stone, after Germany’s reunification in 1989.
Like many of the city’s buildings, it had remained just a pile of rubble since being bombed in February 1945 during the Second World War when 90% of the city was destroyed by fire.
Dresden's Frauenkirche Rebuilt
Using documents that survived the bombing, the rebuilt Frauenkirche is identical to the original except for having a modern organ. Nearly half the original stones, blackened with age, were incorporated to form a deliberate contrast with the new honey-coloured ones.
The interior is gleaming white with ornate gilding and colourful murals around the dome.
Theaterplatz in Dresden’s Old Town
The heart of Dresden’s Old Town is the Theaterplatz, a large square beside the river. The 18th-century Dom (the Catholic cathedral) stands on one side, opposite the Semper Opera, world-renowned for both its music and design. It is a distinctive circular building and when the East German regime wanted to rebuild it in plain modern style, the Dresdeners insisted on repeating the original design.
Semper Gallery and Zwinger Palace in Dresden
The Semper Gallery, which completes Theaterplatz, houses one of Europe’s best art collections including masterpieces by Titian, Rubens and Canaletto. Spread out beyond the gallery are the ornate gardens of the Zwinger Palace where open-air concerts are staged throughout the summer, just as they were 200 years ago when the party-loving King Augustus the Strong commissioned this oval conservatory-like palace.
His priceless collection of Chinese and Meissen porcelain is displayed there, while the grand Royal Palace beside it houses a glittering array of royal silver, gold and jewels in its historic Grune Gewolbe, (Green Vault).
History of the Saxon Kings including Augustus the Strong
A handy place to catch up on the 800-year history of the Saxon kings is the wall of the Royal Mews where they are depicted in a 100-metre long mural made of 24,000 small Meissen tiles. Augustus the Strong was the most formidable king and his many projects included extending the city across the river to create Neustadt (New Town).
A huge golden statue of him on horseback stands at the end of the grand Augustus Bridge which leads into Neustadt’s Hauptstrasse, a broad boulevard lined with trees.
Dresden’s Neustadt with Baroque Mansions
The whole Neustadt area with its elegant baroque mansions has now been renovated, becoming the most fashionable part of the city. Boutiques, coffee-shops, restaurants and clubs line Königstrasse and the narrower cobbled streets and passageways off it - a pleasant area to stroll at any time of day or night.
One of Dresden’s most exclusive hotels, the Bulow Residenz and its Michelin-starred Caroussel restaurant, is hidden away in one of the smartly-renovated 18th-century mansions. In the Old Town too there is an array of new hotels, like the splendid Taschenberg Palais Kempinski occupying a former royal residence.
River Trips on the Elbe in DresdenPaddle-steamers sail downstream on the Elbe to the famous porcelain factory at Meissen and upstream to ‘Saxon Switzerland’ where castles and palaces are dotted on wooded hillsides.
As Dresden continues to restore and transform itself, an efficient network of trams as well as river-side cycle lanes (many hotels offer cycle-hire) help to make this exciting city easy to explore.
Gillian Thomas - Having left the BBC's Paris news office to return to England and get married over 20 years ago, I have freelanced as a journalist ever ...
