Exterior view

The Zwinger is a palace in Dresden, built in Rococo style and designed by court architect Matthäus Daniel P�ppelmann. It served as the orangery, exhibition gallery and festival arena of the Dresden Court.

Frederick Augustus I (the Strong) (1670-1733) and his son Frederick Augustus II (1696-1763) together transformed Dresden and Saxony into a grandiose Baroque treasure chest. Moreover, Saxony could claim a position at the centre of German music during this period.

Frederick Augustus I commissioned the sculptor and architect Marcus Conrad Dietze (1658-1704) from Ulm to plan a new royal seat. After Dietze’s death P�ppelmann and Balthasar Permoser were appointed as his successors. In 1709 P�ppelmann began drawing up comprehensive plans. In 1716 the single-storey gallery buildings of the orangery formed an omega-shaped ground plan, with the Wallpavillon added over the stairs midway along the curved galleries.

The king wanted a spacious and unusual festival ground (the Zwinger garden) without any direct link to the architecture of the palace. P�ppelmann submitted a simple but inspired plan which included a new group of buildings that was a mirror image of the existing ones. Construction of the Zwinger was completed in 1728.

The picture shows the rampart pavilion (Wallpavillon) of the Zwinger.