Information about Zwinger

See also: Theodor Zwinger

Aerial view of the Zwinger Palace

The Zwinger Palace in Dresden is a major German landmark.

The location was formerly part of the Dresden fortress of which the outer wall is conserved. The name derives from the German word Zwinger (outer ward of a concentric castle); it was for the cannons that were placed between the outer wall and the major wall. The Zwinger was not enclosed until the neoclassical building by Gottfried Semper called the Semper wing was built to host the GemÃ¤ldegalerie Alte Meister art gallery.

History

Augustus the Strong, elector of Saxony, returned from a grand tour through France and Italy in 1687–89, just at the moment that Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles. On his return to Dresden, having arranged his election as King of Poland (1697), he wanted something similarly spectacular for himself. The fortifications were no longer needed and provided readily available space for his plans. The original plans, as developed by his court architect MatthÃ¤us Daniel PÃ¶ppelmann before 1711, covered the space of the present complex of palace and garden, and also included as gardens the space down to the Elbe River, upon which the Semper opera house and its square were built in the nineteenth century.

The Zwinger was designed by PÃ¶ppelmann and constructed in stages from 1710 to 1728. Sculpture was provided by Balthasar Permoser. The Zwinger was formally inaugurated in 1719, on the occasion of the electoral prince Frederick August’s marriage to the daughter of the Hapsburg emperor, the Archduchess Maria Josepha. At the time, the outer shells of the buildings had already been erected and, with their pavilions and arcaded galleries, formed a striking backdrop to the event. It was not until the completion of their interiors in 1728, however, that they could serve their intended functions as exhibition galleries and library halls.

Semper's gallery facing the opera square, with the Semperoper at right, ca 1900

The death of Augustus in 1733 put a halt to the construction because the funds were needed elsewhere. The palace area was left open towards the Semperoper square and the river. Later the plans were changed to a smaller scale, and in 1847–1855 the area was closed by the construction of the gallery wing now separating the Zwinger from the opera place; the architect was Gottfried Semper, who designed the opera.

The building was mostly destroyed by the carpet bombing raids of February 13-15, 1945. The art collection had been evacuated before, though. After the war, in a referendum, the people of Dresden voted to restore the building and generally preferred to rebuild the glories of the city, instead of having the ruins bulldozed to make way for the architecture of socialist realism then prevalent in the German Democratic Republic.

Museum

Albeit somewhat small, the Zwinger's GemÃ¤ldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Picture Gallery) became a star attraction in Dresden's rich cultural heritage. It now houses collections of fine art and scientific treasures. There is a collection of old masters, with paintings of Rubens, Canaletto, Raphael and many others. The RÃ¼stkammer (Armory) houses a fine collection of weapons and armor, mostly dating from the 16th and 17th century. Also there is a collection of Meissen porcelain and clocks and scientific instruments. The building also holds the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon.

References

Capsule history

Coordinates:

Theodor Zwinger (August 2, 1533 - March 10, 1588), was a Swiss scholar. He was born and died in Basel. He was trained in medicine at Padua before returning to become a member of the Basel medical faculty. He lectured there on Greek, ethics and the theory of medicine.
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Dresden

Coat of arms Location

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Anthem
"Das Lied der Deutschen" (third stanza)
also called "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit"
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concentric castle (or multiple castle) is a castle within a castle, with two or more concentric rings of curtain walls and, in cases, no central keep.^[1] Generally, the outermost walls are lowest and the height of the walls increases towards the middle.
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Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, both as a reaction against the Rococo style of anti-tectonic naturalistic ornament, and an outgrowth of some classicizing features of Late Baroque.
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Gottfried Semper

Gottfried Semper
Personal information
Name Gottfried Semper
Nationality
Birth date November 29 1803
Birth place Mecklenburg, Germany
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Old Masters Picture Gallery (German: GemÃ¤ldegalerie Alte Meister) is an art gallery located in the Semper wing of the Zwinger Palace in Dresden, Germany. The gallery holds over 700 old master paintings [1] from Renaissance to Baroque that were collected by the
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Frederick Augustus I, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland (as Augustus II the Strong) (German: August II der Starke; Polish: August II Mocny) (b. Dresden, 12 May 1670 – d.
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Grand Tour was a European travel itinerary that flourished from about 1660 until the arrival of mass rail transit in the 1820s. It was popular amongst young British upper-class men and served as an educational rite of passage for the wealthy.
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Louis XIV (baptised as Louis-DieudonnÃ©) (September 5, 1638 – September 1, 1715) ruled as King of France and of Navarre.

He acceded to the throne on May 14 1643, a few months before his fifth birthday, but did not assume actual personal control of the
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State Party France
Type Cultural
Criteria i, ii, vi
Reference 83
Region Europe and North America

Inscription History
Inscription 1979 (3rd Session)
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History of Poland
Chronology
Until 966
966–1385
1385–1569
1569–1795
1795–1918
1918–1939
1939–1945
1945–1989
1989–present
Topics
Culture
Demography ( Jews )
Economics
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MatthÃ¤us Daniel PÃ¶ppelmann (May 3 1662, Herford - January 17 1737, Dresden) was a German master builder who helped to rebuild Dresden after the fire of 1685, and designed Dresden Castle and the Pillnitz church. He is author of Zwinger.
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Elbe
Czech: Labe, German: Elbe, Low German: Ilv
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The Semperoper or Saxon State Opera Dresden (Ger: SÃ¤chsische Staatsoper Dresden) is an opera house in Dresden, Germany, and is one of the most famous in the world. It was first built in 1841, by architect Gottfried Semper, in the Early Renaissance style.
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Balthasar Permoser (born in Kammer bei Waging, Salzburg; today a part of bavarian town Traunstein, on 13 August 1651–died in Dresden on 18 February 1732) was among the leading sculptors of his generation,^[1]
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Augustus III
King of Poland

Augustus III of Poland.
Reign 1734 – 5 October 1763
Coronation 17 January 1734
Wawel Cathedral, Cracow
Titles Elector of Saxony
Born 7 October 1696
Dresden, Saxony, Germany

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Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria or Marie Josefa (German: Maria Josepha von Habsburg, Erzherzogin von Ã–sterreich, Polish: Maria JÃ³zefa Habsburżanka
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The bombing of Dresden, led by Royal Air Force (RAF) and followed by the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) between February 13 and February 15, 1945, remains one of the more controversial Allied actions of World War II.
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February 13 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events

1258 - Baghdad falls to the Mongols, and the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed.

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February 15 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events

399 BC - The philosopher Socrates sentenced to death.

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German Democratic Republic (GDR; German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, DDR; commonly and informally known in English as East Germany
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Peter Paul Rubens

Birth name Peter Paul Rubens
June 28, 1577
Siegen, Westphalia
May 30, 1640
Antwerp, Flanders
Flemish
Field Painting

Baroque

Peter Paul Rubens
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Giovanni Antonio Canal (Venice, Republic of Venice, October 28, 1697 – April 19, 1768),^[1] better known as Canaletto, was a Venetian artist famous for his landscapes, or vedute of Venice. He was also a significant printmaker in etching.
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Meissen porcelain is among the first European porcelain. It was successfully produced in a trial firing in 1708 by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus. However after his untimely death that October, Johann Friedrich BÃ¶ttger, who continued his work and brought porcelain to the
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