DRESDEN. 



143 



is connected with the suburbs of Old Dresden by a 

 ,tnnc bridge over the \\~eisseritz. The bridge which 

 unites the old and new town, and which has been either 

 destroyed or greatly injured by the French in 1813, 

 was reckoned one of the finest in Europe. It was built 

 of stone, and consisted of nineteen extremely flat arches ; 

 its length was about 707 ells, and on the fifth pier was 

 placed an instrument for measuring the height of the 

 river. Augustus II. furnished the bridge with foot- 

 paths, and adorned it with an iron balustrade, with 

 , trophies, and lamps. The streets of this city are 

 sixty-one in number, and are straight, spacious, well 

 paved, and well lighted ; and the houses are in general 

 high, well built, and commodious. The town contains 

 several handsome squares, and many elegant public edi- 

 fices. 



The royal palace, formerly the electoral palace, is a 

 very fine building, and owes its chief ornaments to Au- 

 gustus II. The floors are principally of exquisite marble, 

 and the walls are covered with mirrors. 



The green room, or vault, which contains eight rooms, 

 Is particularly splendid ; and the hall of the giants, the 

 hall of audience, and the chambers of parade, are wor- 

 thy of peculiar notice. The tower of the palace is 

 355 feet high, exclusive of the conductor. The green 

 room contains a prodigious number of natural and arti 

 ficial curio.-ities. 



The celebrated gallery of pictures occupies the se- 

 cond floor of the palace. It consists of several rooms 

 communicating with one another in a circular form, 

 and contains 1200 paintings, by 334 masters of the 

 principal schools of painting. All of these are originals, 

 and are admirably preserved. Besides many pieces 

 of German, Flemish, and Dutch painter*, the gallery 

 contains t'le best wor!%s of Hannibal C'aracci, Raphael, 

 (iiiido, Albiini, Leonardo da Vinci, Vandyck, Titian, 

 Andrea del Sarto, Rembrandt, Cararaggio, Tintoretto, 

 Nicolas i'u'is-in, I.uca Giordano, Corregio, Battoni, and 

 Rubens. The Night and the Magdalen of Corregio are 

 greatly admired. A list of the principal pictures will 

 be found in Lemaistre's Trnrcls, vol.ai. p. 399. In the 

 year 1800' this gallery was enriched with a large histo- 

 rical painting by 1 r. Mathtri, with twelve figures, re- 

 prrsenting Egistheus punished by Orestes and Pylades 

 in the palace of Agamemnon. 



The palace of 1'rince Antoine is situated in the Faux- 

 bourg, and that of Maximilian, which is a small though 

 a light and elegant building, is situated on the other 

 side of the bridge. 



The Japanese palace, or the Dutch palace as it is often 

 called, stands in a most picturesque situation, elevating 

 its majestic domes among the boughs of trees. It is 

 a large square building, and was intended by Augustus 

 III. for a Chinese palace. The garden is small, and at 

 the end of it near the water is a terrace, which com- 

 mands a delightful view of the city, the river, and the 

 environs of the town. The ground floor of this palace is 

 devoted to the collection of antiquities, which fills a 

 long suite of rooms. It was formed between 1720, and 

 il'M, by Augustus III. who purchased the greater part 

 of the gallery of Prince C'higi, at Rome. He paid 

 O'OOO ducats for the vases of porcelain made at Rome, 

 and painted by Raphael, and he also bought from the 

 elector of Brandenburg two porcelain vases from Japan. 

 The collection of porcelain is reckoned the finest in 

 Europe, and consists of several millions of pieces of all 

 kinds, from every country, and of every age. Mr Le- 

 maistre, who lias given an account of several of the ar- 



ticles in this cabinet, considers it as the finest which he Dreule*. 

 has seen, excepting the collection of antiquities at Paris. -""V"" 

 The three Grecian statues of females, which were 

 found in the first excavations made at Herculaneum, in 

 1 706, are particularly admired. 



The two upper floors of this palace are appropriated 

 to the public library, which contains above 1 50,000 vo- 

 lumes, and 2000 manuscripts. The books are kept in 

 high order, and the library is open several days in the 

 week to the public, who are even allowed to carry the 

 books to their own houses. 



The Tresor, or the collection of jewels, contains a vast 

 assemblage of diamonds, and other precious stones, and 

 innumerable curiosities in ivory, enamel, coral, and jas- 

 per, with clocks and other mechanical instruments. 



The gardens called Der Zwinger, which form a kind 

 of public promenade, contain several unfinished build- 

 ings, which were intended by Augustus II. to form 

 part of a magnificent palace. The architecture is load- 

 ed with ornaments, and many of the buildings are in a 

 state of ruin. These buildings contain a cabinet of 

 prints and designs, which is deemed one of the finest 

 in Europe, and contains specimens of the art from its 

 infancy to its present state ; a cabinet of petrifactions 

 and incrustations, and other objects of natural history ; a 

 cabinet of anatomical preparations; and a saloon of ma- 

 thematical and physical instruments. The other public 

 buildings, are the large and the small opera house, the 

 assembly-rooms, the arsenal, which contains the first fire 

 arms invented by Bertholde Schwarze, the military 

 academy, the carousel, the barracks, the mint, theland- 

 haus or state house, the royal China warehouse, the 

 hotels of .Schoenberg, Saul, of the Countess of Moken- 

 ska, of Flcmming, of Anholt, of Vitzthum, of Bruhl, of 

 Cosel, and of Marcolini, the last of which is remarkable 

 for its furniture, its pictures, and its gardens, and for 

 the colossal groupe of Neptune and his court. The 

 hotel of Count Bruhl is now employed as a depot for 

 the porcelaii. manufactures ; but the garden is open to 

 the public, and forms a delightful promenade on the 

 banks of the Elbe. The carousel, or the court where 

 tournaments and combats with wild beasts were former- 

 ly exhibited, appears to have been once a fine edifice, 

 but it is falling rapidly to decay. 



Dresden contains about 18 churches, the most re- 

 markable of which are, the church of the Holy Cross, 

 the church of the Catholics, the church of the Court, 

 the church of Notre Dame. The church of the Holy 

 Cross is an enormous circular mass of stone, anil the 

 painting at the great altar was executed by Schoenan. 

 The church of the Catholics, built by Augustus III. be- 

 tween 1737 and 175f>, is one of the finest in Germany, 

 and the handsomest building in Dresden. It stands de- 

 lightfully on elevated ground, nearly fronting the bridge 

 over tile Elbe. Its organ is the chef-d'oeuvre of the ce- 

 lebrated Silbermann. It is decorated by several admi- 

 rable paintings by Mengs, a native of Dresden, among 

 which is the Ascension, which is reckoned his chef- 

 d'oeuvre, and adorns the principal altar. The tower is 

 303 feet high, and the total expence of building it and 

 the church was 906,95.5 rix-dollars. The church of 

 Notre Dame, or St Mary's (Frauen Kirche,) was built 

 in 1734 by Augustus II. on the plan of St Peter's at 

 Rome. It cost 300,000 rix-dollars. From the lantern 

 of the cupola the view is universally admired. 



The literary and charitable establishments are nume- 

 rous and well managed. The principal of these are the 

 academy of painting and architecture, the annual exlii- 



