Explore Dresden

The Frauenkirche is a Lutheran church in Dresden, rebuilt between 1994 and 2005 after its destruction in the 1945 firebombing of the city. The present building is a reconstruction of the 18th-century Baroque church designed by George Bähr, known for one of the largest domes in Europe.

Dresden Castle, also called the Residenzschloss, was for almost 400 years the residence of the electors and kings of Saxony. Largely destroyed in the 1945 bombing of Dresden and rebuilt after German reunification, it now houses museum collections including the Historic and New Green Vault, the armoury, and a coin collection.

Dresden Cathedral, built between 1739 and 1755 for the Saxon royal court by architect Gaetano Chiaveri, is the city's Catholic cathedral. Known in German as the Hofkirche, it stands near the Elbe beside the Residenzschloss and holds the burial vault of several members of the House of Wettin.

Brühl's Terrace is a raised promenade above the bank of the Elbe in central Dresden, built on the site of former city fortifications and named after an 18th-century statesman, Heinrich von Brühl. Nicknamed the 'Balcony of Europe', it runs along the Altstadt between the Albertinum and the Hofkirche.

The Zwinger is a Baroque palace complex in central Dresden, built from 1709 under architect Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann for Augustus the Strong. Its pavilions, galleries and gardens surround a courtyard with fountains, and the Semper Gallery wing, added in 1855, now houses several of the city's art collections.

The Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister displays around 750 European paintings from the 15th to 18th centuries, including Italian Renaissance, Dutch and Flemish works. Part of the Dresden State Art Collections, the gallery occupies the Semper wing of the Zwinger on the bank of the Elbe.

The Albertinum is a sandstone Renaissance Revival museum building on Brühl's Terrace, named after King Albert of Saxony. It houses the Dresden State Art Collections' New Masters Gallery and Sculpture Collection, showing paintings and sculpture from the Romantic period to the present.

The Semperoper is the opera house of the Saxon State Opera Dresden and the concert hall of the Staatskapelle Dresden, located on Theaterplatz near the Elbe. Built by architect Gottfried Semper in 1841, rebuilt after an 1869 fire, and completed in 1878, it has hosted premieres of major works by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss.

The German Hygiene Museum is a medical and science museum in Dresden, founded in 1912 by businessman Karl August Lingner after the 1911 International Hygiene Exhibition. Its current building, by architect Wilhelm Kreis, opened in 1930 and displays the Gläserner Mensch, a transparent anatomical model of the human body.

The Großer Garten is a Baroque park covering about 1.8 square kilometres in central Dresden, laid out from 1676 for Elector John George III and open to the public since 1814. Symmetrical avenues lead to the Sommerpalais at its centre, and the park also contains Dresden Zoo and the Botanical Garden.

Pillnitz Palace is a Baroque summer residence of the Saxon electors and kings on the right bank of the Elbe east of Dresden. It comprises the riverside Wasserpalais, the hillside Bergpalais and the later Neues Palais, set around a garden, and today houses the Dresden State Art Collections' decorative arts museum.