Dresden October 2012
In Dresden we were blessed not only with a well-informed local guide, very patient with our
variously biddable group, but also with the company of Matthew Winterbottom, Curator of
Decorative Arts from the Museum. It was fascinating to see how the post-bombing rebuilding has
been and still is being carried on, all around the Altstadt.
For many the highlights of the tour were the Green Vaults, both ‘New’ and ‘Historic’, where
Augustus the Strong’s astonishing collection of treasures are found. The fashion was to take
some wonder of the natural world (from ostrich eggs to giant jewels) and give it a setting of the
very finest craftsmanship… superlatives failed us all.
We also visited the fine gardens at Pillnitz, on the edge of the city, and sailed back on one of the
famous steamers; spent most of a day in Meissen, learning about hard-paste porcelain; many
visited the Alte Meister Galerie; and on our way home we dropped in to Augustus’s hunting lodge-
come-palace at Moritzburg.