The Ely miner., 1930-07-25


Society. Washington. d. c.
WO capitals of German states,
Dresden in Saxony and Munich
L in Bavaria, are capitals, as WELL
Of art, and annually draw their
thousands Of art-loving tourists.
Dresden is filled with artistic Won
ders. Its picturesque setting, astride
beautiful bend in the Elbe river,
about 40 miles south of Berlin,
caused Herder, the poet, to call it the
Florence of the Elbe
From an approaching river steamer,
the Saxon capital lis a city of graceful
spires and huge dOmes and cupOlas,
but inside the Altstadt Gold city, on
the left bank of the Elbe, the picture
changes to one of artistically embel-
lished buildings handsomely sculp-
tured monuments, galleries of famous
paintings, numerous museums with
choice collections of all sorts, spa
cious squares and parkways, and can
yonlike streets where Kunst German
for 'art') is heard among the throngs
nearly as often as some of the COM
mon verbs.
A large portion of the Altstadt lies
near the Augustus bridge. one of the
five spans that connect the old town
with Neustadt, on the other bank of
the river. The Hof-Kirche, facing the
bridge with its 212-fOOt tower. is a
huge structure, whose parapets are
topped with 80 statues of saints and,
inside, Raphael Mengs' Ascension"
looks down upon the high altar. A
covered passage connects the church
with the old Saxon palace whose
walls are decorated with fine mural
paintings; and in the various rooms,
large collections of Chinese vases and
Dresden china are on display. Even
the stable adjoining the palace is en-
bellished with a cavalcade of Saxon
princes, in porcelain tiles.
Treasures in Many Buildings.
Within few blocks of the palace
numerous buildings contain the col
lections that have made Dresden IA
nous as the German art center. Be-
tween the church and the palace the
tains a dazzling array of jewels-dia-
monds, rubies and sapphires
works of art in gold, ivory. bronze
and Limoges enamels. On a single
ivory tusk one artist has carved AZ
angels and another ivory piece de-
picts an organ grinder fighting a rob-
ber. The Saxon crown jewels, 40
carat green diamond, jeweled trinkets
of all kinds, a golden tea service and
the largest known onyx are displayed.
Bronze work includes statues, pedes-
tails and vases. A striking bronze
piece depicts Charles II of England
fighting off a dragon.
Across the street, surrounded by
gardens, the Zwinger, built by Au-
gustus the Strong and intended to
house banquet and dance halls, prom
enades and gardens betitting royal life
of the Eighteenth century, is treas
ury of art. The building is fine eX->
ample of Italian Renaissance. adorned
with figures of Greek deities, vases
and flowers. Once in the court which
the Zwinger inclOses, the traveller
feels that the rose gardens and prom
enades should fulfill the most regal
whim.
The Zwinger museum contains a
half million engravings, many draw
ings. mathematical instruments, and
a picture gallery where some of the
finest works of the most eminent
Italian, Spanish, Dutch and German
artists are on exhibition. RaphaePs
"Sistine Madonna" occupies a promi-
nent place in the collection. 1t was
purchased in 1854 from Italian monks
and smuggled out of Italy by painting
a landscape over the canvas. There
are also works of Rubens, Van Dyck,
Rembrandt and others.
The Johanneum museum, formerly
stable buildings, contains an interest
ing collection of war material and
more than 10000 pieces of Chinese.
japanese and Dresden porcelain. and
Italian majolica, glazed pottery.
The Albertinum, once an arsenal,
now is sculpture museum with many
historical and modern pieces. Deli
cately painted limestone reliefs dating
back to 270O B. c. are displayed there.
while a mummy still reposes in cOf-
fin it has occupied more than 1900
years.
Collections and Churches.
These and numerous other exhibit
places, including the Municipal muse
um with a fine collection of etchings;
the Academy of Art; the School and
Museum of Industrial Art; the Zoo
logical and Ethnographical museum.
containing a large collection of stuffed
birds and chronological specimens; the
Mineralogical and Prehistoric museum
with interesting fossils; draw art low
ers from all parts of the world and
earn for Dresden the right TO be
called one of the worlds important
art centers.
Among the churches the Frauen-
Kirche, Protestant editice. is the
largest. 1t Aan accommodate 5000
Worshipers. The church occupies a
whole city block. The lantern above
ire hupa dame Is 312 feet from the