Great Garden
A masterpiece of landscape design
In Saxony's capital, landscape design and horticulture have a history extending back over centuries. Of the numerous parks in the city, the Great Garden is without a doubt one of the most beautiful. Although it is now a long time since this exclusive park was the scene of princely revelries, today you can enjoy classical music on balmy summer evenings, experience magnificent firework displays or let yourself be enchanted by a performance in one of our theatres.
Few cities are so delightfully swathed in green, or crisscrossed by so many lawns and gardens as Dresden. Even at the end of the 16th century a contemporary enthused about the "well landscaped fruit and pleasure gardens" which surrounded the city with its dense buildings like a colourful garland boasting a selection of native flora and exotic plants to attract attention. Gardens such as these were very important as the location for courtly festivities.
It is no wonder that in 1676 even the later Elector, Johann Georg III., commissioned a representative garden to be laid before the city's gates. In the centuries that followed, a horticultural work of art was produced under his successors with avenues, manor houses and a "Lusthaus" (palace dedicated to performances and celebrations) that is unparalleled in Europe.
The palace, built in 1683 by Johann Georg Starcke at the intersection of the main avenues, is a jewel of early baroque architecture. As a setting for festivities amidst the green it was the ideal showplace for demonstrations of princely power, represented by events such as the Elector's wedding ceremony in 1719.
The Great Garden has had a highly eventful history. Just a few years after the sparkling festivities under August the Strong, there came a period of destruction and plundering. The park was remodelled in the style of an English country garden and even supplied timber and field crops, before it was given its current appearance as a city park in the mid 19th century. But even the Great Garden was not spared Dresden's awful fate during the bombing raids of 1945.
Today the park has a special status amongst the city's gardens, and not just because of its size – 147 hectares – which makes it Dresden's largest park. With its lawns, flower beds, spring-fed fountains, the "Sonnenhäusl" puppet theatre, the park theatre, the "Junge Garde" open air theatre, and the park railway, it is one of the most popular places for relaxation and the city's green lungs. Dresden has gradually grown around it and welcomed it into its very heart.
