Things to do in Dresden, Saxony: The Best Specialty Museums

The Museum of Man. Just a stone's throw from Dresden's Frauenkirche, the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum invites visitors to experience people and their bodies. For over 100 years, the unique hands-on museum has been offering a look "under the skin". In addition, there are annually changing exhibitions on current topics from science, culture and society. The museum impresses both - from inside and from outside: Nowhere else in Dresden, the world-famous Bauhaus architecture can be experienced better.

Since 2006 the Panometer Dresden, a former gas tank in Dresden Reick, displays the monumental 360° panoramas “BAROQUE DRESDEN” and “DRESDEN 1945” created by Berlin artist Yadegar Asisi in a regular change. The presentation of the pictures on a scale of 1:1 and a 105 m wide and 27 m high surface is supported by the use of light and sound. Standing on the 15 m high platform in the middle of the monumental picture the visitor can thus experience the perfect illusion of immerging into the history of Saxony’s capital Dresden. Between January and May/June the panorama “DRESDEN 1945” broaches the issues of tragedy and hope of the European city. The accompanying exhibition provides an introduction into the immediate aftermath of the bombing raids on February 13th in 1945. Inside of the panorama picture, which is supported by light and sound effects, the incidents of this day get then even more realistic for the visitors and they get the feeling of being directly involved in the happening. The following documentary, showing interviews with contemporary witnesses, depicts Dresden’s reconstruction in the centuries after the bombing. Between June and December “BAROQUE DRESDEN” invites its visitors to a travel in time into the epoch of Baroque, Dresden’s most famous era. Inspired by the numerous vedutas of Bernardo Bellotto, also known as Canaletto, Yadegar Asisi depicts a unique overall view of Saxony’s capital city. Detailed sceneries of the city life and the courtly routine during the Augustan Epoch, dated back to 1695 - 1760, allow the visitors to plunge into the baroque heyday. The accompanying exhibition, held in vibrant colours such as magenta, deep blue and gold, concentrates on the baroque city’s daily life. Numerous exhibits illustrate different aspects of absolutism, court and religion of this time.

The museum is housed in Carl Maria von Weber’s (1786–1826) erstwhile summer home. It was at this picturesque estate that hewrote many of his operas, among them Der Freischütz, Euryanthe and Oberon. Today, pictures, texts and other artefacts related to his achievements and works are on view in the former livingand working rooms.