near the river. The royal palace, built in 1530-1535 by Duke George (and
thus called Georgenschloss), was thoroughly restored, and in some
measure rebuilt between 1890 and 1902, in German Renaissance style, and
is now an exceedingly handsome structure. The Georgentor has been
widened, and through it, and beneath the royal apartments, vehicular
traffic from the centre of the town is directed to the Augustusbrucke.
The whole is surmounted by a lofty tower--387 ft.--the highest in
Dresden. The interior is splendidly decorated. In the palace chapel are
pictures by Rembrandt, Nicolas Poussin, Guido Reni and Annibale Caracci.
The adjoining Prinzen-Palais on the Taschenberg, built in 1715, has a
fine chapel, in which are various works of S. Torelli; it has also a
library of 20,000 volumes. The Zwinger, begun in 1711, and built in the
rococo style, forms an enclosure, within which is a statue of King
Frederick Augustus I. It was intended to be the vestibule to a palace,
but now contains a number of collections of great value. Until 1846 it
was open at the north side; but this space has since been occupied by
the museum, a beautiful Renaissance building, the exterior of which is
adorned by statues of Michelangelo, Raphael, Giotto, Dante, Goethe and
other artists and poets by Rietschel and Hahnel, and it contains the
famous picture gallery. The Bruhl palace, built in 1737 by Count Bruhl,
the minister of Augustus II., has been in some measure demolished to
make room for the new Standehaus (diet house), with its main facade
facing the Hofkirche; before the main entrance there is an equestrian
statue (1906) of King Albert. Close by is the Bruhl Terrace, approached
by a fine flight of steps, on which are groups, by Schilling,
representing Morning, Evening, Day and Night. The terrace commands a
view of the Elbe and the distant heights of Loschwitz and the Weisser
Hirsch, but the prospect has of late years become somewhat marred, owing
to the extension of the town up the river and to the two new up-stream
bridges. The Japanese palace in the Neustadt, built in 1715 as a summer
residence for Augustus II., receives its name from certain oriental
figures with which it is decorated; it is sometimes called the Augusteum
and contains the royal library. Among other buildings of note is the
Hoftheatre, a magnificent edifice in the Renaissance style, built after
the designs of Semper, to replace the theatre burnt in 1869, and
completed in 1878. A