Albertinum in Dresden

12 October 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  9 minutes

© Vitold Muratov/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Vitold Muratov/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Albertinum is a modern art museum. The sandstone-clad Renaissance Revival building is located on Brühl’s Terrace in the historic center of Dresden, Germany. It is named after King Albert of Saxony.   read more…

Portrait: Johann Sebastian Bach, a German composer and musician

21 June 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Portrait Reading Time:  8 minutes

Johann Sebastian Bach in 1746 by Elias Gottlob Haussmann © jsbach.net

Johann Sebastian Bach in 1746 by Elias Gottlob Haussmann © jsbach.net

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the Brandenburg Concertos; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier; organ works such as the Schübler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach revival he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.   read more…

Inner new town of Dresden

30 October 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Hauptstraße © VSchagow/cc-by-sa-4.0

Hauptstraße © VSchagow/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Innere Neustadt (Inner New City) is a neighborhood in Dresden within the administrative district of Neustadt. The name is derived from “Neue Königliche Stadt” (New Royal City), the name given to the former district of Altendresden when it was rebuilt after a fire before 1732. In contrast to the Äußere Neustadt (Outer New City), the Innere Neustadt was within the city fortifications and, for that reason, is also known as the historic Neustadt. Its population is 7,761 (2020). The Innere Neustadt is located in the administrative district of Neustadt, on the right bank across the Elbe and to the north of the Innere Altstadt (Inner Old City). The River Elbe forms an enclosing arc around the Innere Neustadt. Four bridges cross the Elbe, connecting the district with the southern bank of the Elbe. Of these, only Augustusbrucke is historic. The streets leading to these bridges cross the Innere Neustadt and join at Albertplatz (Albert Place), at the northern end of the district (originally called Bautzner Platz).   read more…

Inner old town of Dresden

30 October 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Inner old town © Zinneke/cc-by-sa-3.0

Inner old town © Zinneke/cc-by-sa-3.0

The inner old town is a neighbourhood in the district of Altstadt and the historic city center of the Saxon state capital Dresden. It is part of the Altstadt I district. Many of Dresden’s best-known buildings are located in the inner old town. In addition to the Frauenkirche, these are the Zwinger, the Semperoper, the Residenzschloss, the Katholische Hofkirche, the Kreuzkirche and numerous other buildings. Important squares are the Altmarkt, the Neumarkt, the Theaterplatz and the Schloßplatz. There are also parks in the small district, such as the Brühlsche Garten at the eastern end of the Brühlsche Terrasse and the pond at the Zwinger.   read more…

Bautzen in Saxony

3 October 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  13 minutes

© Stephan M. Höhne/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Stephan M. Höhne/cc-by-sa-3.0

Bautzen is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and the administrative centre of the district of Bautzen. It is located on the Spree river. In 2018 the town’s population was 39,087. Until 1868, its German name was Budissin. Bautzen is often regarded as the unofficial, but historical capital of Upper Lusatia. The town is also the most important cultural centre of the Sorbian minority, which constitutes about 10 percent of Bautzen’s population. Asteroid 11580 Bautzen is named in honour of the city. The town is situated about 50 km (31 mi) east of Dresden between the Lusatian highland and the lowlands in the north, amidst the region of Upper Lusatia. To the north stretches the Bautzen Reservoir, which was flooded in 1974. This is the former location of the villages of Malsissy (Małšecy) and Nimschütz (Hněwsecy).   read more…

Muskau Park

14 January 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  2 minutes

New Castle © Jochen Sievert/cc-by-sa-4.0

New Castle © Jochen Sievert/cc-by-sa-4.0

Muskau Park (German: Muskauer Park, officially: Fürst-Pückler-Park Bad Muskau; Polish: Park Mużakowski) is a landscape park in the Upper Lusatia region of Germany and Poland. It is the largest and one of the most famous English gardens in Central Europe, stretching along both sides of the German–Polish border on the Lusatian Neisse. The park was laid out from 1815 onwards at the behest of Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau (1785–1871), centered on his Schloss Muskau residence.   read more…

Annaberg-Buchholz in Saxony

29 March 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  10 minutes

© Devilsanddust/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Devilsanddust/cc-by-sa-3.0

Annaberg-Buchholz is a town in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Lying in the Ore Mountains, it is the capital of the district of Erzgebirgskreis. The previously heavily forested upper Ore Mountains were settled in the 12th and 13th centuries by Franconian farmers. Frohnau, Geyersdorf, and Kleinrückerswalde—all now part of present-day town—are all attested from 1397. The most well-known personalities associated with Annaberg-Buchholz include Adam Riese, the “father of modern arithmetic”.   read more…

Königstein Fortress in Saxony

1 May 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  15 minutes

Königstein Fortress © Fritz-Gerald Schröder

Königstein Fortress © Fritz-Gerald Schröder

Königstein Fortress, the “Saxon Bastille“, is a hilltop fortress near Dresden, in Saxon Switzerland, above the town of Königstein on the left bank of the River Elbe. It is one of the largest hilltop fortifications in Europe and sits atop the table hill of the same name. The 9.5 hectare rock plateau rises 240 metres above the Elbe and has over 50 buildings, some over 400 years old, that bear witness to the military and civilian life in the fortress. The rampart run of the fortress is 1,800 metres long with walls up to 42 metres high and steep sandstone faces. In the centre of the site is a 152.5 metre deep well, which is the deepest in Saxony and second deepest well in Europe. The fortress, which for centuries was used as a state prison, is still intact and is now one of Saxony‘s foremost tourist attractions, with 700,000 visitors per year.   read more…

Silicon Saxony in Dresden

3 August 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Universities, Colleges, Academies Reading Time:  5 minutes

© silicon-saxony.de

© silicon-saxony.de

Silicon Saxony is a registered industry association of nearly 300 companies in the microelectronics and related sectors in Saxony, Germany, with around 40,000 employees. Many, but not all, of those firms are situated in the north of Dresden. With a name chosen referring to Silicon Valley, the area and the union — in many aspects — represent the only meaningful European center of microelectronics. Many of those firms have very research and capital intensive business models competing with subsidized global players, mainly from Asia.   read more…

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