Northern Lands; Or, Young America in Russia and Prussia

by Oliver Optic

The party then returned to Berlin before five in the afternoon. At quarter of eight in the evening, they took places in the schnellzug, or fast train and arrived at Dresden about half past twelve. In half an hour more, most of them were asleep at the Hotels de Bellevue, Victoria, Saxe, and Stadt. The Bellevue, on the bank of the Elbe, is one of the pleasantest and best kept hotels in Europe.

Dresden is the capital of the Kingdom of Saxony, whose territory is a thousand square miles smaller than the State of Massachusetts, but has a population of two million four hundred thousand. It is an independent state, except that its army is under the control of the King of Prussia in time of war. Its royal house is one of the oldest in Europe, and in the tenth century gave an Emperor to Germany. The population of Dresden is one hundred and fifty-six thousand. It is in a healthy and pleasant region, and has many attractions, so that it has long been regarded as a desirable residence by Americans. Hundreds of families from the United States live there, not only because it is cheap and pleasant, but because the place affords the best advantages for education, while its art collections and curiosities are not excelled by many of the capitals of Europe.

Not many of the students appeared the next morning before nine o'clock, though most of them had slept all the way from Berlin to Dresden. Palaces and museums with waxed floors are very tiresome. One needs a week properly to digest the sights of the capital of Saxony; but our party were to do what they could in a single long day. Mr. Ferdinand Spott, one of the most honest, faithful, and reliable commissionaires to be found in Europe, was engaged to engineer the sight-seeing, and to make arrangements for a visit to the Saxon Switzerland the next day.

Dresden is on both sides of the Elbe, the old city being on the left bank, and the new on the right. They are joined by a noble stone bridge, fourteen hundred feet long, originally built with funds procured by the sale of dispensations from the pope of indulgences to eat eggs and butter during Lent. One of its arches was blown up by Davoust, to favor the retreat of the French army after the battle of Dresden, but was promptly restored by the Emperor of Russia. Near the bridge, in the old city, is a large square, part of it beautifully laid out in groves, gardens, and winding walks, with a pond and island in it. On or near this square are most of the attractions to strangers. The Hotel de Bellevue is on the river, in one corner. Next to it, on the river, is an extensive restaurant and beer garden. The theatre which stood in the centre of the square has been destroyed by fire, a temporary structure of wood taking its place. On one side stands the Zwinger, originally intended as the vestibule of a vast palace, the rest of which was never erected, contains the Armory and Museum of Natural History. Opposite the bridge is the Catholic Church, a very odd and profusely ornamented structure. The royal family are Catholics, though the great majority of the people are Lutherans. Next to this is the Schloss, or palace, and connected with it is the picture gallery.

The principal attraction of the palace is the Green Vaults, a series of eight apartments, taking their name from the former color of the furnishings, in which are kept the treasures of the kingdom, and an immense variety of curious, rare, and costly articles. Only six persons can be admitted at one time, and the fee for this or any less number is two thalers, or a dollar and a half. An arrangement was made by which the entire party could see them in the course of the day. A portion of the students went to the picture gallery first, another to the Green Vaults, and a third to the Armory in the Zwinger, so as to avoid uncomfortable crowds.

One room in the Green Vaults is said to contain jewels to the value of fifteen million dollars, which is only a portion of the riches of the palace. The Saxon princes were formerly the wealthiest monarchs in Europe, the silver mine of Freiberg yielding them an immense revenue. They used much of their riches in accumulating valuable and costly works of art, jewels, trinkets, and curiosities. The first room contains articles in bronze; the second, carvings in ivory, of the most elaborate description; the third, Florentine mosaics; the fourth, gold and silver plate, used at the banquets of the kings; the fifth, vessels and articles cut from various minerals; the sixth, figures in ivory and wood, and jewels and trinkets; the seventh, the regalia worn by Augustus II., who was elected King of Poland, at his coronation. The eighth contains a collection of jewels and other costly articles, calculated to astonish and bewilder a simple republican—rubies, diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds, chains, collars, crosses, rings, swords. The court of the Great Mogul is composed of one hundred and thirty-two figures, of pure gold enamelled, which cost nearly fifty thousand dollars.

The Armory contains one of the finest collections of armor and historical relics in Europe. In one room is a cabinet given by the Elector of Saxony to Martin Luther, which contains several articles that belonged to the reformer. In another are the coronation robes of Augustus the Strong, the horseshoe he broke with his fingers, and his iron cap, weighing nineteen pounds. The saddle of Napoleon, the boots he wore at Dresden, and the shoes he wore at his coronation, are to be seen. One room contains a tent taken from the Turks at the siege of Vienna, with various memorials of John Sobieski, who saved the city. The rooms were all full of interest, but the students were obliged to hasten through them.

The picture gallery contains twenty-seven hundred original paintings, including some of the best works of the old and of modern masters. The most celebrated picture is the Madonna di San Sisto, of Raphael. The Madonna is rising to heaven with the infant Jesus in her arms, while Pope Sixtus, from whom the picture takes its name, is gazing at them with reverential awe. Below are two cherubs looking upward. Opposite the pope is the kneeling form of St. Barbara, while the background of the picture is made up of "the innumerable company of angels," whose faces cover the canvas, but are hardly noticeable at first. This painting cost forty thousand dollars, and occupies an apartment by itself at one corner of the building. At the opposite end, another room is appropriated solely to the Madonna of Holbein, which is his masterpiece. It represents the burgomaster of Basle, with his family, praying the Virgin to save his dying child. She is laying down the infant Jesus, to take up the sick child. The gallery contains many other remarkable works by Correggio, Titian, Paul Veronese, Van Dyck, Rubens, Rembrandt, Albert Dürer, and, indeed, pictures by nearly all the old masters.

In the afternoon some of the party rode to the Great Garden, where there is a palace of Augustus II., with eight pavilions for his favorites, and then to the Japanese Palace, so called from the style of some of its rooms, in the new city. It is near the bank of the Elbe, with extensive gardens on the river. It contains antiquities, statuary, mostly ancient, bronzes, collections of porcelain and Dresden china, and some Roman tombs, with urns filled with the ashes and burned bones of the dead.