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A city of east-central Germany on the Elbe River east-southeast of Leipzig. An industrial and cultural center, it was severely damaged in bombing raids during World War II. Its china industry was moved to Meissen in the early 18th century. Population: 505,000.
For more information on Dresden, visit Britannica.com.
Dresden, from 1949 to 1990 in the DDR (see Deutsche Demokratische Republik), is the capital of the Freistaat Sachsen of the Federal Republic (see Bundesrepublik Deutschland). Its former reputation as Germany's ‘Elbflorenz’ (the river Elbe flows through the centre of the city) derives from the splendour of its Baroque buildings which reflect the city's rich cultural heritage, begun during the Renaissance when it became the residence of the dukes and electors of Saxony, who also made Dresden a Protestant stronghold (from the 1540s). The court promoted all major branches of the arts and literature, including the introduction of the Italian opera and the building of the Komödienhaus (1664-7), one of Germany's first theatres, and the Frauenkirche, whose magnificent dome, symbol of Dresden, characterized its renowned design; begun in 1726, it was the work of Georg Bähr (1666-1738). The city's mid-18th-c. profile has been recorded in the paintings of Bernardo Bellotto, who from 1746 to 1758, and again during most of the 1760s was court painter. Dresden later attracted Ph. O. Runge and C. D. Friedrich, the composers C. M. von Weber and Wagner, and the writers H. von Kleist, E. T. A. Hoffmann, A. Müller, and the brothers Schlegel. On 13/14 February 1945 Dresden was destroyed by Allied air raids. The city's reconstruction is a continual process.
Originally a Slavic settlement called Drezdane, Dresden was settled with Germans by the margrave of Meissen in the 13th cent. From 1485 until 1918 it was the residence of the dukes, then the electors, and later the kings, of Saxony. Prussia occupied Dresden in the Second Silesian War (see Austrian Succession, War of the), but withdrew after the Treaty of Dresden (1745). In the Seven Years War, Dresden was again occupied (1756) by the Prussians. In Aug., 1813, Napoleon I defeated the coalition forces near Dresden in his last great victory before his defeat (Oct., 1813) at Leipzig. In the late 17th and 18th cent., particularly under the electors Frederick Augustus I and Frederick Augustus II (Augustus II and Augustus III as kings of Poland), Dresden became a center of the arts and an outstanding showplace of baroque and rococo architecture. In the late 18th and early 19th cent. it was a leading center of the romantic movement, and in the late 19th and early 20th cent. it was a center of German opera. Ranked as one of the world's most beautiful cities before World War II, Dresden was severely damaged by British and U.S. bombing during the war (Feb., 1945), with deaths estimated between 35,000 and 135,000.
Among the city's famous landmarks, all damaged in the war, are the city hall, the Zwinger palace and museum, the Semper Opera, the Hofkirche [court chapel], the Kreuzkirche [Holy Cross church], and the Frauenkirche [church of Our Lady], the ruins of which were left unreconstructed for many years as a war memorial. Most of the fabulous art collection, acquired by the court in the 18th and 19th cent., was safely kept through the war outside Dresden, but many art objects were afterward moved to the Soviet Union. The city is the seat of a technical university.
Dresden's development was determined by its rulers. In 1485 what had been a small market town on the River Elbe became the permanent residence of the Albertine Dukes of Saxony. Under Duke George the Bearded (ruled 1500–1539), an opponent of the Reformation, the city began to expand. On his death in 1539 Dresden became Lutheran. In 1547, at the Battle of Mühlberg, Duke Maurice (ruled 1541–1553) wrested the title of elector of Saxony from the Ernestine branch of the family. Dresden was now the capital of a large and politically important Lutheran territory. Under Maurice it expanded to include the settlement on the northern bank of the Elbe, the socalled New Town. In 1549 forty-seven trade guilds were recorded with 707 master craftsmen. Maurice's brother Augustus (ruled 1553–1586) continued his efforts to create an Italianate Renaissance palace and to fortify the city according to the latest Netherlandish and Italian techniques. Augustus also built up important collections of books, scientific instruments, and curiosities. Between 1500 and 1600 the population trebled in size to fifteen thousand.
Dresden's importance as a musical center was confirmed when Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672) was appointed Kapellmeister to John George I (ruled 1611–1656) in 1615. During the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) Dresden was not occupied but suffered from famine, plague, and economic stagnation. John George II (ruled 1656–1680) led the city's economic recovery after the war by encouraging trade and manufacture. In 1676 he began to lay out the park known as the Grosser Garten (Great Garden), in which he built a baroque palace (1678–1683) designed by Johann Georg Starcke (1640–1695).
His grandson Frederick Augustus I (known as Augustus the Strong, ruled 1694–1733) succeeded unexpectedly to the electorship in 1694. He was elected king of Poland in 1697 as Augustus II, having converted to Catholicism. This estranged him from his wife and his Saxon subjects and meant that he spent years at a time in Poland. It also led to the Northern War (1700–1721), which had serious economic consequences. Augustus was a noted patron of the arts, particularly the exquisite goldsmith work by the Dinglinger brothers, Johann Melchior (1664–1731), Georg Friedrich (1666–1720), and Georg Christoph (1668–1746). He also collected Far Eastern porcelain, encouraged the rediscovery of porcelain manufacture by Johann Friedrich Böttger (1682–1719) and Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus (1651–1708) and reorganized the Dresden art collections. He built the Taschenberg Palace between 1707 and 1711 to designs by Johann Friedrich Karcher (1650–1726) and Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann (1662–1736); the Zwinger (1709–1732), by Pöppelmann and the sculptor Balthasar Permoser (1651–1732); the Dutch (later Japanese) Palace (1715), also by Pöppelmann; and the new Opera House inaugurated in 1719 (no longer extant).
Augustus II's only legitimate son, Frederick Augustus II (ruled 1733–1763), also converted to Catholicism. He was elected king of Poland as Augustus III on his father's death. In 1719 he had married the Catholic Habsburg princess Maria Josepha. As a restatement of their Lutheran allegiance, the people of Dresden funded the building of the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), which seated 3,500 worshippers. Begun in 1726 to a design by George Bähr (1666–1738), it was completed in 1743. As a counterblast to the Frauenkirche, between 1738 and 1754 Augustus III and Maria Josepha built the Catholic Court Church of the Holy Trinity (by the Italian architect Gaetano Chiaveri [1689–1770]) in a dominant position in front of the electoral palace. Augustus III greatly augmented the art collection by buying one hundred paintings from the duke of Modena in 1745/1746 and Raphael's Sistine Madonna in 1754. He also had a passion for music. Johann Adolf Hasse (1699–1783) was his Kapellmeister from 1731 to 1763.
In August 1756 Frederick II, king of Prussia, marched into Saxony and took up residence in Dresden. Augustus and his court fled to Warsaw, and the Seven Years' War began. In 1758 and 1759 whole suburbs were burned down by the Prussians. In September 1760 they bombarded Dresden, destroying five hundred buildings. When the war was over, Saxony had to pay heavy reparations to Prussia. It took sixty years for the city's population of 63,000 to return to what it had been before the war.
Bibliography
Papke, Eva. Festung Dresden: Aus der Geschichte der Dresdener Stadtbefestigung. Dresden, 1997.
Stimmel, Folke, et al. Stadtlexikon Dresden. Dresden, 1998.
Watanabe-O'Kelly, Helen. Court Culture in Dresden from Renaissance to Baroque. Basingstoke, U.K., 2002.
—HELEN WATANABE-O'KELLY
City in eastern Germany on the Elbe River.
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The country code is: 49
The city code is: 351
| Dresden | |
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| Coat of arms | Location |
 |
  |
| Administration | |
| Country |  Germany |
|---|---|
| State | Saxony |
| Admin. region | Dresden |
| District | Urban district |
| Lord Mayor | Lutz Vogel (Ind.) stand-in for Ingolf Roßberg (FDP) |
| Basic statistics | |
| Area | km² ( sq mi) |
| Elevation | m (371 ft) |
| Population |
Please give "Stand or population_as_of" in YYYY-MM-DD format , e. g.
2005-12-31
[1] |
| - Density | /km² ( /sq mi) |
| Other information | |
| Time zone | CET/CEST ([[UTC+1]]/[[UTC+2|+2]]) |
| Licence plate | DD |
| Postal codes | 01001 - 01462 |
| Area code | 0351 |
| Website | dresden.de |
Dresden (etymologically from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning people of the riverside forest) is the capital city of the German Federal Free State of Saxony. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area.
Dresden has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Kings of Saxony, who for centuries furnished the city with cultural and artistic splendor. The controversial bombing of Dresden in World War II, plus 40 years in the Soviet bloc state of East Germany, changed the face of the city dramatically.
Since German reunification in 1990, Dresden has emerged as a cultural, political, and economic centre in the eastern part of Germany.
Dresden lies on both banks of the river Elbe, mostly in the Dresden Elbe Valley Basin, with the further reaches of the eastern Ore Mountains to the south, the steep slope of the Lusatian granitic crust to the north, and the Elbe Sandstone Mountains to the east at an altitude of about 113 meters. The highest point of Dresden is about 384 meters in altitude.
With a pleasant location and a mild climate on the Elbe, as well as Baroque-style architecture and numerous world-renowned museums and art collections, Dresden has been called "Elbflorenz" (Florence of the Elbe).
The incorporation of neighbouring rural communities over the past 60 years has made Dresden the fourth largest urban district in Germany after Berlin, Hamburg, and Cologne.
The nearest German cities are Chemnitz (80 km to the southwest), Leipzig (100 km to the northwest) and Berlin (200 km to the north). The Czech capital Prague is about 150 km to the south; the Polish city of Wrocław is about 200 km to the east.
Greater Dresden, which includes the neighbouring districts of Kamenz, Meißen, Riesa-Großenhain, Sächsische Schweiz, Weißeritzkreis and part of the district of Bautzen, has a population of around 1,250,000 .[2]
Dresden claims to be one of the greenest cities in Europe, with 63% of the city being green areas and forests. The Dresdner Heide to the north is a forest 50 km² in size. There are four nature reserves. The additional Special Conservation Areas cover 18 km². The protected gardens, parkways, parks and old graveyards host 110 natural monuments in the city.[3] The Dresden Elbe Valley is a world heritage site which is focused on the conservation of the cultural landscape in Dresden. One important part of that landscape is the Elbe meadows which cross the city, 20 kilometers long.
Dresden has a cold-moderate to continental climate. The microclimate in the Elbe valley differs from that on the slopes and in the higher areas. Klotzsche, at 227 metres above sea level, hosts the Dresden weather station. The weather in Klotzsche is 1-3°C colder than in the inner city. In summer, temperatures in the city often remain at 20°C still at midnight.
The average temperature in January is −0.7°C and in July 18.1°C.[4] Summers are hotter in Dresden and winters are colder than the German average. The inner city temperature is 10.2°C averaged over the year. The driest months are February and March, with precipitation of 40 mm. The wettest months are July and August, with 60 mm per month.
Because of its location on the banks of the Elbe, into which some water sources from the Ore Mountains flow, flood protection
is important. Large areas are kept free of buildings to provide a floodplain. Two additional trenches about 50 metres wide have
been built to keep the inner city free of water from the Elbe river by dissipating the water downstream through the inner city's
gorge portion. Flood regulation systems like detention basins and
However, many locations and areas have to be defended by walls and sheet pilings. A number of districts become waterlocked if the Elbe river is flooding some of its old bayous.
Dresden is a spacious city. Its districts differ in their structure and appearance. Many parts still contain an old village core, while some quarters are almost completely preserved as rural settings. Other characteristic kinds of urban areas are the historic outskirts of the city, and the former suburbs with scattered housing. In the communist era, many apartment blocks were built. The original parts of the city are almost all in the districts of Altstadt (Old town) and Neustadt (New town). Growing outside the city walls, the historic outskirts were built in the 18th century. They were planned and constructed on the orders of the Saxon monarchs, which is why the outskirts are often named after sovereigns. From the 19th century the city grew by incorporating other districts. Dresden has been divided into ten districts called "Ortsamtsbereich" and nine former boroughs ("Ortschaften") which have been incorporated.
Although Dresden is a younger city of Slavic origin,[5] the area had been settled in the Neolithic era by Linear Pottery culture tribes ca. 7500 BC.[6] Dresden's founding and early growth is associated with the eastward expansion of Germanic peoples,[5] mining in the nearby Ore Mountains, and the establishment of the Margraviate of Meissen. Dresden later evolved into the capital of Saxony.
Around the late 12th century, a Slavic settlement called Drežďany[7] ("alluvial forest dwellers" [citation needed]) had developed on the southern bank. Another settlement existed on the northern bank, but its slavic name is unclear. It was known as Antiqua Dresdin verifiable since 1350 and later as Altendresden.[7][8] Dietrich, Margrave of Meissen, chose Dresden as his interim residence in 1206, as documented in a record calling the place "Civitas Dresdene".
After 1270 Dresden became the capital of the margravate. It was restored to the Wettin dynasty in about 1319. From 1485 it was the seat of the dukes of Saxony, and from 1547 the electors as well.
The Elector and ruler of Saxony Frederick Augustus I (1670-1733) was King August the Strong of Poland in personal union. He gathered many of the best musicians [9], architects and painters from all over Europe to Dresden. His reign marked the beginning of Dresden's emergence as a leading European city for technology and art. Dresden suffered heavy destruction in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763).
Between 1806 and 1918 the city was the capital of the Kingdom of Saxony (which was a part of the German Empire from 1871). During the Napoleonic Wars the French emperor made it a base of operations, winning there a famous battle on August 27 1813. Dresden was a centre of the German Revolutions in 1849 with the May Uprising, which cost human lives and damaged the historic town of Dresden.
During the 19th century the city became a major centre of economy, including automobile production, food processing, banking and the manufacture of medical equipment. The city's population quadrupled from 95,000 in 1849 to 396,000 in 1900 as a result of industrialization.
In the early 20th century Dresden was particularly well-known for its camera works and its cigarette factories. Between 1918 and 1934 Dresden was capital of the first Free State of Saxony. Dresden was a centre of European modern art until 1933.
Dresden was both an important garrison as well as a centre of military industry during the Second World War. The bombing of Dresden by the Royal Air Force and by the United States Army Air Force between February 13 and February 15, 1945, remains one of the more controversial Allied actions of that war. The inner city of Dresden was heavily destroyed during what proved to be the final weeks of war in Europe. While the city center was destroyed rather completely larger villa areas outside downtown suffered few bombing impact.
After the Second World War, Dresden became a major industrial centre in communist East Germany with a great deal of research infrastructure. Many important historic buildings were rebuilt, although the communist leaders of the city chose to reconstruct large areas of the city in a "socialist modern" style, partly for economic reasons but also in order to break away from the city's past as the royal capital of Saxony and a stronghold of the German bourgeoisie. However, some of the bombed-out ruins of churches were razed by the Soviet authorities in the 1960s instead of being repaired. From 1985 to 1990 the KGB stationed Vladimir Putin, the future present President of Russia, in Dresden.
On 3 October 1989 (the so-called "battle of Dresden"), a convoy of trains carrying East German refugees from Prague passed through Dresden on its way to West Germany. Local activists and residents joined in the growing civil disobedience movement spreading across East Germany by staging demonstrations and demanding the removal of the non-democratic government.
Dresden has experienced dramatic changes since the reunification of Germany in the early 1990s. The city still bears many wounds from the bombing raids of 1945, but it has undergone significant reconstruction in recent decades. The Dresden Frauenkirche, as symbol of the more comprehensive reconstructions was completed in 2005, a year before Dresden's 800th birthday. The urban renewal process, which includes the reconstruction of the area around the Neumarkt square on which the Frauenkirche is situated, will continue for many decades, but public and government interest remains high, and there are numerous large projects underway — both historic reconstructions and modern plans — that will continue the city's recent architectural renaissance.
Dresden remains a major cultural centre of historical memory, owing to the city's destruction in World War II. Every year on 13 February, the anniversary of the major British fire-bombing raid that destroyed most of the city, tens of thousands of demonstrators gather to commemorate the event. Since reunification, the ceremony has taken on a more neutral and pacifist tone (after being used more politically in Cold War times). In recent years, however, far right skinheads have tried to use the event for their own political ends. In 2005, Dresden was host to the largest Neo-Nazi demonstration in the post-war history of Germany. Between five and eight thousand Neo-Nazis took part, mourning what they call the "Allied bomb-holocaust".
In 2002 torrential rains caused the Elbe to flood 9 m above its normal height, i.e. even higher than the old record height from 1845, damaging many landmarks (See 2002 European flood). The destruction from this "millennium flood" is no longer visible, due to the speed of reconstruction.
The United Nations cultural organization UNESCO declared the Dresden Elbe Valley to be a World Heritage Site in 2004.[10] After being placed on the list of endangered World Heritage Sites in 2006, the city is most likely going to lose the title in July 2007 due to the construction of the Waldschlößchenbrücke. UNESCO stated in 2006 that the bridge will destroy the cultural landscape. The city council's legal moves to prevent the bridge being built failed.[11]
As the capital of a German principality and kingdom, Dresden has been a military centre for centuries. In connection with the foundation of the German Empire in 1871, a large military facility called Albertstadt was built. It had a capacity of up to 20,000 military personnel at the beginning of the First World War. The garrison saw only limited use between 1918 and 1934 but was then reactivated in preparation for the Second World War. It was not directly attacked in the bombings of Dresden but its usefulness was limited by attacks on the railway network in the last month of the war.
The Albertstadt garrison became the headquarter of the Soviet 1st Guards Tank Army in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany after the war. Apart from the German officer school of the army called Offizierschule des Heeres there have been no more military units in Dresden since the army merger during German reunification and the withdrawal of Soviet forces in 1992.
Dresden is one of Germany's 16 political centres and capital of Saxony. It has institutions of democratic local self-administration that are independent from the capital functions. Some local affairs of Dresden are observed nationwide.
Dresden hosted some international summits such as the Petersburg Dialogue between Russia and Germany, the European Union's Minister of the Interior conference and the G8 labor ministers conference in recent years.
The city council defines the basic principles of the municipality by decrees and statutes. The council gives orders to the burgomaster by voting for resolutions and thus has some executive power.
Currently there is no stable governing majority on Dresden city council.
The Supreme Burgomaster is directly elected by the citizens for a term of seven years. Executive functions are normally elected indirectly in Germany. However, the Supreme Burgomaster shares numerous executive rights with the city council. He/She is the executive head of the municipality, and also the ceremonial representative of the city. The main departments of the municipality are managed by seven burgomasters.
Local affairs in Dresden often centre around the urban development of the city and its spaces. Architecture and the design of public places is a controversial subject. Discussions about the Waldschlößchenbrücke, a planned bridge across Elbe, received international attention because of its position across the Dresden Elbe Valley World Heritage Site. Opponents of the bridge are concerned that its construction would cause the loss of World Heritage site status.[12] The city held a public referendum in 2005 on whether to build the bridge.
In 2006 Dresden sold its publicly subsidized housing organization, WOBA Dresden GmbH, to the US-based private investment company Fortress Investment Group. The city received 987.1 million euros and paid off its remaining loans, making it the first large city in Germany to become debt-free. Opponents of the sale were concerned about Dresden's loss of control over the subsidized housing market.[13]
The construction of a new soccer stadium has been in planning for several years but has not yet been realized. The start date for upgrading the Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion into a single use soccer stadium with a capacity of 32,770 is August 2007.
Along with its twin city Coventry, Dresden was one of the first cities to twin with a foreign city. The two cities became twins after World War II in an act of reconciliation, as both had been nearly destroyed by bombing.
Coventry, United Kingdom, since 1959
Saint Petersburg, Russia, since 1961
Wrocław, Poland, since 1963
Ostrava, Czech Republic, since 1971
Brazzaville, Congo, since 1975
Florence, Italy, since 1978 Hamburg, Germany, since 1987
Rotterdam, Netherlands, since 1988
Strasbourg, France, since 1990
Salzburg, Austria, since 1991
Columbus, USA, since 1992Blazon: Party per pale on a golden
shield showing a black lion to
Meaning: The lion represents the Margraviate of Meissen and the pales
called the Landsberger Pfähle represent the Mark Landsberg, both ruling the city of
Dresden. Since 1309 both coats of arms in combination have been used. The pales were originally blue but converted to black to
differentiate from the two other important Saxon cities of
Dresden is seeking to regain the kind of cultural importance it held from the 19th century until the 1920s, when it was a centre of art, architecture and music. During that period, famous artists such as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Otto Dix, Oskar Kokoschka, Richard Strauss, Gottfried Semper and Gret Palucca were active in the city. Dresden is also home to several important art collections, world-famous musical ensembles, and significant buildings from various architectural periods, many of which were rebuilt after the destruction of the Second World War.
The Saxon State Opera descended from the opera company of the former electors of Saxony in the Semperoper. Its musical ensemble is the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, founded in 1548. The Dresden State Theatre runs a number of smaller theatres. The Dresden State Operetta is the only independent operetta in Germany. The Herkuleskeule (Hercules club) is an important site in German-speaking political cabaret.
There are several choirs in Dresden, the best-known of which is the Kreuzchor (Choir of The Cross). It is a boy's choir drawn from pupils of the Kreuzschule and was founded in the 13th century. The Dresdner Kapellknaben are not related to the Staatskapelle but to the former Hofkapelle, the Catholic cathedral, since 1980. The Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra is the orchestra of the city of Dresden.
In summer 2006, as part of Dresden's 800th anniversary celebrations, the Pet Shop Boys performed together with the Dresdner Sinfoniker (symphony orchestra) on the pedestrian mall at Prager Strasse. The backdrop for the performance was a GDR-era concrete apartment block upon which a light show was displayed.
Dresden hosts the Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Dresden State Art Collections) which is one of the world's most important museums and collections. The art collections consist of eleven museums, of which the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister and the Grünes Gewölbe are the best known.
Other museums and collections owned by the Free State of Saxony in Dresden are:
The Dresden City Museum is runned by the city of Dresden and focused on the city's history. The Military Historical Museum of the Bundeswehr is in the former garrison in the Albertstadt.
Although Dresden is often said to be a Baroque city, its architecture is influenced by more than one style. Other eras of importance are the Renaissance and Historism as well as the contemporary styles of Modernism and Postmodernism.
The royal buildings are among the most impressive buildings in Dresden. The Dresden castle was once the home of the royal household. The wings of the building have been renewed, built upon and restored many times. Due to this integration of styles, the castle is made up of elements of the Renaissance, Baroque and Classicist styles.
The Zwinger Palace is across the road from the castle. It was built on the old stronghold of the city and was converted to a centre for the royal art collections and a place to hold festivals. Its gate (surmounted by a golden crown) by the moat is famous.
Other royal buildings and ensembles:
The Hofkirche was the church of the royal household. August the Strong, who wanted to became King of Poland, was forced to convert to the Catholic religion, as the Polish king had to be Catholic. At that time Dresden was strictly Protestant. August the Strong ordered the building of the Hofkirche to establish a sign of religious importance in Dresden. The church is the cathedral "Sanctissimae Trinitatis" since 1980. The church hosts the crypt of the Wettin Dynasty. In contrast to the Roman Catholic church, the Frauenkirche was built almost contemporaneously by the citizens of Dresden. It is said to be the greatest cupola building in Central and North Europe. Furthermore, the Frauenkirche is the largest church in Dresden, making Dresden one of the few places where a cathedral is not the largest Christian sacred building. The city's historic church is the Kreuzkirche.
There are also other churches in Dresden, for example a Russian Orthodox Church in the Südvorstadt district.
Dresden has been an important site for the development of contemporary architecture for centuries, and this trend has continued into the 20th and 21st centuries.
Historicist buildings made their presence felt on the cityscape until the 1920s. One of the youngest buildings of that era is the Hygiene Museum, which is designed in an impressively monumental style but employs plain facades and simple structures. It is often attributed, wrongly, to the Bauhaus school.
Most of the present cityscape of Dresden was built up after 1945, a mix of reconstructed or repaired old buildings and new buildings in the modern and postmodern styles. Important buildings erected between 1945 and 1990 are the Centrum-Warenhaus (a large department store) representing the international style, the Kulturpalast, and a lot of smaller and two bigger complexes of Plattenbau housing, while there is also housing dating from the era of Stalinist architecture.
After 1990 and German reunification, new styles emerged. Important contemporary buildings are the New Synagogue (a postmodern building with few windows), the Transparent Factory, the Saxon State Parliament and the New Terrace, the UFA-Kristallpalast cinema by Coop Himmelb(l)au(one of the biggest buildings of Deconstructivism in Germany) and the Saxon State Library. Daniel Libeskind and Norman Foster both modified existing buildings. Foster roofed the main railway station with translucent teflon-coated synthetics. Libeskind changed the whole structure of the Military History Museum by placing a wedge through the historistic arsenal building.
Other buildings include important bridges crossing the Elbe river, the Blaues Wunder bridge and the Augustusbrücke, which is on the site of the oldest bridge in Dresden.
There are about 300 fountains and springs, many of them in parks or squares. The wells serve only a decorative function, since there is a fresh water system in Dresden. Springs and fountains are also elements in contemporary cityspaces.
The most famous sculpture in Dresden is the golden equestrian sculpture of August the Strong called the "Goldener Reiter" (Golden Cavalier) on the Neustädter Markt square. It shows August at the beginning of the Hauptstraße (Main street) on his way to Warsaw, where he was King of Poland in personal union. Another sculpture is the memorial of Martin Luther in front of the Frauenkirche.
The Garden City of Hellerau, at that time a suburb of Dresden, was founded in 1909 according to the principles postulated by the British reformer Ebenezer Howard. It was built by renowned architects and artists, amongst them Hermann Muthesius, Heinrich Tessenow, Theodor Fischer and Wilhelm Kreis. In 1911 Tessenow built the Hellerau Festspielhaus (festival theatre) for the Swiss music educator Émile Jaques-Dalcroze and Hellerau became a centre of modernism with international standing until the outbreak of World War I.
In 1950 Hellerau was incorporated into the city of Dresden. Today the Hellerau reform architecture is recognised as exemplary. In the 1990s the garden city of Hellerau became a conservation area.
There are several small cinemas presenting cult films and low-budget or low-profile films chosen for their cultural worth. Dresden also has a couple of multiplex cinemas, of which the Rundkino is the oldest.
Dresden has been a centre for the production of animated films and optical cinematic techniques. The Dresden Filmfest hosts a competition for short films which is among the best-endowed competitions in Europe.
Dresden has a rich footballing history. In the early 20th century, the city was represented by Dresdner SC, who were one of Germany's most successful clubs, their best days coming during World War II, when they were twice German Champions, and twice Cup winners. However, after the division of Germany, the club was considered too bourgeois by the East German authorities, and it was dissolved in 1950. The mantle was taken up by a new, ideologically acceptable club called Dynamo Dresden. Dynamo went on to become one of the East's most successful clubs, winning eight DDR-Oberliga titles, and representing the DDR in European competition. After reunification, Dynamo found themselves in the Bundesliga, and Dresdner SC were reformed, but both clubs have at times found life difficult, and have struggled both financially and on the pitch. Nevertheless, both clubs remain popular, particularly Dynamo, and the worst of their problems appear to be behind them.
The Bundesautobahn 4 (
There are two main inter-city transit hubs in the railway network in Dresden: Dresden Hauptbahnhof and Dresden-Neustadt railway station. The most important railway lines run to Berlin, Prague, Leipzig and Chemnitz. A commuter train system (Dresden S-Bahn) operates on three lines alongside the long-distance routes.
Dresden Airport is the international airport of Dresden, located at the north-western outskirts of the town. Its infrastructure has been improved with new terminals and a motorway access route.
Dresden has a large tramway network operated by the Dresden Transport Authority. Because the geological bedrock does not allow the building of underground railways, the tramway is an important form of public transport. The Transport Authority operates twelve lines on a 200 km network.[14] Many of the new low-floor vehicles are up to 45 metres long and produced by Bombardier Transportation in Bautzen. While many of the system's lines are on reserved track (often sown with grass to avoid noise), some tracks still run on the streets, especially in the inner city.
The CarGoTram is a tram that supplies Volkswagen's Transparent Factory, crossing the city. The transparent factory is located not far from the city centre next to the city's largest park.[15]
Dresden is the capital of a German Land (federal state). It is home to the Saxon state parliament and the ministries of the Saxon Government. The controlling Constitutional Court of Saxony is in Leipzig. The highest Saxon court in civil and criminal law, the Higher Regional Court of Saxony, has its home in Dresden.
Most of the Saxon state authorities are located in Dresden. Dresden is home to the Regional Commission of Dresden, which is a controlling authority for the Saxon Government. It has jurisdiction over eight rural districts, two urban districts and the city of Dresden.
Like many cities in Germany, Dresden is also home to a local court, has a trade corporation and a Chamber of Industry and Trade and many subsidiaries of federal agencies (such as the Federal Labour Office or the Federal Agency for Technical Relief). It also hosts some subdepartments of the German Customs and the eastern Federal Waterways Directorate.
Dresden is also home to a military subdistrict command but no longer has large military units as it did in the past. Dresden is the traditional location for army officer schooling in Germany, today carried out in the Offizierschule des Heeres.
