Dresden
A collaboration between the architect Matthäus Pöppelmann and the sculptor Balthasar Permoser, the Zwinger was built between 1710 and 1728 on the orders…
Must-see attractions in Saxony
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Dresden
Dresden's extraordinary Renaissance city palace, home to its Saxon rulers from 1485 to 1918, now shelters multiple precious collections – including the…
Saxony
Next to the historic porcelain factory south of the Altstadt, this museum is the place to witness the astonishing artistry and artisanship that makes…
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Leipzig
This church has Romanesque and Gothic roots, but since 1797 has sported a striking neoclassical interior with palm-like pillars and cream-coloured pews…
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Militärhistorisches Museum Dresden
Dresden
Even devout pacifists will be awed by this engaging museum, housed in a 19th-century arsenal bisected by a bold glass-and-steel wedge designed by Daniel…
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Dresden
This astounding collection of European art from the 16th to 18th centuries houses an incredible number of masterpieces, including Raphael's famous Sistine…
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Dresden
The Renaissance-era former arsenal is the stunning home of the Galerie Neue Meister (New Masters Gallery), which displays an array of paintings by some of…
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Leipzig
The university-run Museen im Grassi harbours three fantastic collections that are often overlooked, despite being a five-minute walk from Augustusplatz…
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Leipzig
This imposing modernist glass cube is the home of Leipzig's fine art museum and its world-class collection of paintings from the 15th century to today,…
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Dresden
The Historic Green Vault displays some 3000 precious items in the same fashion as during the time of August der Starke, namely on shelves and tables…
Dresden
The domed Frauenkirche – Dresden’s most beloved symbol – has literally risen from the city's ashes. The original church graced the skyline for two…
Dresden
The aptly named Grosser Garten (Great Garden) is a relaxing refuge during the warmer months. A visitor magnet here is the modernised Zoo Dresden in the…
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Saxony
A magnificent sight on a rocky crag high above the Müglitz River, Schloss Weesenstein is an amazing alchemy of styles, blending medieval roots with…
Dresden
Take a web of grimy courtyards, a load of paint and a bunch of visionary Dresden artists and out comes the Kunsthofpassage, one of the most refreshingly…
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Saxon Switzerland
Festung Königstein is the largest intact fortress in Germany, and so imposing and formidable that noone in history has ever even bothered to attack it,…
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Saxony
An impossibly romantic vision in yellow and white surrounded by an enormous moat-like lake and a park that is at turns wild and formal, baroque Schloss…
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Saxony
Baroque has gone exotic at Schloss Pillnitz, a delightful pleasure palace, festooned with fanciful Chinese flourishes. This is where the Saxon rulers once…
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Saxony
Lording it over Meissen, the 15th-century Albrechtsburg was the first German castle constructed for residential purposes, but is more famous as the…
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Leipzig
Massive Augustusplatz may look nondescript at best, and foreboding at worst, but it is actually flanked by some of Leipzig's most famous buildings,…
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Dresden
One of Germany's most famous opera houses, the Semperoper opened in 1841 and has hosted premieres of famous works by Richard Strauss, Carl Maria von Weber…
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Leipzig
Leipzig's largest cemetery is a vast and beautiful park, filled with rosebay shrubs, populated by squirrels, rabbits and foxes and centred on a building…
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Saxony
In a former army barracks, you can snoop around a furnished apartment, sit in a classroom with a portrait of GDR leader Walter Ulbricht glowering down at…
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Leipzig
In the GDR the walls had ears, as is chillingly documented in this exhibit in the former Leipzig headquarters of the East German secret police (the Stasi)…
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Saxony
Meissen’s dome, a high-Gothic masterpiece begun in 1250, does not impress as much by its size as by the wealth of its interior decorations. Stained-glass…
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Leipzig
This fascinating, enormous and well-curated exhibit covers the political history of the GDR, from division and dictatorship to fall-of-the-Wall ecstasy…
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Dresden
Not an institution dedicated to the history of cleaning products, the German Hygiene Museum is, in fact, all about human beings. The permanent exhibit…
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Dresden
Like its siblings in Leipzig and elsewhere in Germany, this old gasometer – a huge round-shaped building – has been transformed into a venue for German…
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Leipzig
Half a million soldiers fought – and one in five died – in the epic 1813 battle that led to the decisive victory of Prussian, Austrian and Russian forces…
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Dresden
The Katholische Hofkirche (also called Dresden Cathedral) makes up an integral part of the baroque ensemble crowning the Altstadt, and is one of Dresden's…
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Leipzig
Johann Sebastian Bach worked as a cantor in the Thomaskirche from 1723 until his death in 1750, and his remains lie buried beneath a bronze plate in front…
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Leipzig
Looking like an airport terminal devouring a Gothic cathedral, Leipzig University's main building is a boldly postmodern tribute to the 13th-century…
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Leipzig
Leipzig's beautiful Renaissance town hall is an atmospheric setting to recount the twists and turns of the city's history from its roots as a key medieval…
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Dresden
Housed in two gorgeously converted curving galleries, this extraordinary collection ranges from 17th- and 18th-century Chinese porcelain to that produced…
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Dresden
If you are interested in urbanism and the redevelopment of industrial facilities, check out this giant 19th-century red-brick powerplant reborn as a…
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Dresden
Designed by Zwinger architect Mätthaus Pöppelmann, the most eye-catching feature of the Dreikönigskirche is the baroque altar that was ruined in 1945 and…
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Leipzig
The standout attraction at Leipzig Zoo, one of Germany's most progressive, is Gondwanaland, a jungly wonderland of 17,000 plants and 300 exotic animals…
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Dresden
The Guinness-certified ‘world’s most beautiful dairy shop’, founded in 1880, is a riot of hand-painted tiles and enamelled sculpture, all handmade by…
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Leipzig
The happy marriage of a panorama (a giant 360-degree painting) and a gasometer (a giant gas tank) is a panometer. The unusual concept is the brainchild of…
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Leipzig
A key figure of the Romantic age, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was appointed music director of the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester in 1835 and held the…
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Leipzig
Leipzig's first 'skyscraper', the 11-storey Kroch-Haus is topped by a clock and two muscular bronze sentries, who bash the bell at regular intervals; the…
