October 31, 2026
Reformation Day — Public Holiday in Select States
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
What to do
Check the current status before you arrive.
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📷 Nikolai Kolosov / Unsplash (Unsplash License)
Dresden is the capital of Saxony and a city on the Elbe whose baroque core took shape in the 18th century, when the Saxon electors gathered art here and built the Zwinger, the Semperoper, and the Residenzschloss. The bombing of February 1945 razed the old town, so what can be seen today around the Neumarkt and along the Brühlsche Terrasse is the result of decades of painstaking reconstruction. Across the Elbe lies Neustadt, a district with a different rhythm entirely — art courtyards, bars, and façades that have nothing to do with the baroque.
October 31, 2026
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
What to do
Check the current status before you arrive.
December 25, 2026
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
What to do
Check the current status before you arrive.
December 26, 2026
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
What to do
Check the current status before you arrive.
January 1, 2027
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
What to do
Check the current status before you arrive.
March 26, 2027
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
What to do
Check the current status before you arrive.
March 29, 2027
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
What to do
Check the current status before you arrive.
May 1, 2027
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
What to do
Check the current status before you arrive.
May 6, 2027
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
What to do
Check the current status before you arrive.
May 17, 2027
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
What to do
Check the current status before you arrive.
October 3, 2027
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
What to do
Check the current status before you arrive.
Everything you need for Dresden in one place
A Baroque complex built between 1710 and 1732 to a design by Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann for the Augustan court festivities, featuring a 204-metre-long inner arena enclosed by pavilions and galleries. The Old Masters Picture Gallery within the complex houses Raphael's 'Sistine Madonna' of 1512 — a canvas measuring 265×196 cm, long regarded as one of the earliest large oil paintings on this subject in the history of Western art. The porcelain collection at the Zwinger numbers around 20,000 pieces, including a series of Meissen porcelain commissioned directly by Augustus the Strong in the early 18th century.
The opera house in Dresden was built twice — first in 1841 to a design by Gottfried Semper, then destroyed by fire in 1869, with the current building opening in 1878. The bombing of 1945 razed it to the ground, so what visitors see today is the result of a reconstruction completed upon its reopening on 13 February 1985. The sandstone façade and the painted interiors of the auditorium were executed according to Semper's original drawings, while the concrete structure within the historic shell remains invisible — the reconstruction was deliberately conceived as an imitation rather than a modern interpolation.
The Residential Palace, built between the 14th and 16th centuries, houses the Green Vault — the treasury of Augustus the Strong, with over 3,000 exhibits, including the celebrated figurative composition 'The Court at Delhi on the Birthday of Aurangzeb' from 1708, crafted from 5,223 diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and ivory figurines. The historic Green Vault hall has remained unchanged since 1733 — the only royal treasury in Europe to have preserved its original layout and Baroque interior. Part of the collection was taken to the Soviet Union after 1945 and returned only in 1958.
A Christmas loaf made with dried fruit, candied peel, and a thick dusting of icing sugar, protected by a designation of geographical origin — it may only be baked in Dresden and its precisely defined surrounding area, and producers must pass mandatory quality controls.
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