Japanisches Palais

In the location's words:

The Japanese Palace in Dresden is a building with an eventful history, a cultural site of the first rank and home to famous Dresden cultural treasures. Gracefully situated on the Neustädter Elbufer, it is often overshadowed by the more famous old town side with its architectural gems in close proximity. However, its modesty today does not quite match its prominent history, as the palace played a leading role in Baroque Dresden. Augustus the Strong (1670 - 1733) planned to realize his dream of a porcelain palace here. Roofs, interior fittings, everything was to be made of porcelain. After acquiring the palace in 1717, he commissioned the leading Dresden architects Pöppelmann, de Bodt, Longuelune and Knöffel to rebuild it. The imposing four-winged complex, with its architectural sculpture in the then ultra-modern chinoiserie style and its Japanese-style curved roofs, is one of the masterpieces of Dresden Baroque. However, the overall vision of the porcelain palace remained unfinished.

From 1721, the royal art chamber moved in here, later the porcelain collection and from 1785 the antique sculptures, the coin collection and the electoral library. The curious Moritzburg Feather Room was part of the original interior, as were the tapestries after Raphael, which are now kept in the collection of the Old Masters Picture Gallery. Other famous art treasures also made a stop here. From 1834, the first floor was decorated with Pompeiian murals according to Gottfried Semper's designs.

From 1954 to 2012, the State Museum of Prehistory of the State Office of Archaeology was housed in the Japanese Palace, which is now the State Museum of Archaeology in Chemnitz. The museum has made the building, which was completely destroyed in the war, usable again. Today, the building is home to the Senckenberg Natural History Collections Dresden and the Museum of Ethnology Dresden.