Zwinger

Dresden, Germany

Freely accessible

Public space — no opening hours to check.

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Wheelchair access: Partly accessible

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The Zwinger is a palatial complex with gardens in Dresden, Germany, designed by architect Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann and begun in 1709 as an orangery, garden, and representative festival area. One of the most important Baroque buildings in Germany, it features richly decorated pavilions and galleries lined with balustrades, figures, and vases that reflect the splendor of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and elected King of Poland. Originally conceived as the forecourt to a new castle, the Zwinger remained incomplete on the Elbe side until architect Gottfried Semper added the Sempergalerie in 1855, a major nineteenth-century German museum project. Extensively damaged during the bombing of Dresden in February 1945, the complex was reconstructed in the 1950s and 1960s and now houses the Old Masters Picture Gallery, the Dresden Porcelain Collection, and the Royal Cabinet of Mathematical and Physical Instruments, establishing it as a premier museum venue alongside being Dresden's most celebrated architectural monument.