Welcome to the new Riesensaal in Dresden Palace. After 280 years, it has finally been reinstated as the grandest hall in the former residence of the Electors of Saxony.
Its German name, Riesensaal, is a play on words. Riesen means “gigantic”, but it also literally means “giants”. The hall on the second floor of the east wing was always a grand space. When Elector Moritz began his reign in 1547, he chose the former ducal palace as his residence and enlarged the Riesensaal, making it almost 57 metres long and 13 metres wide. The “giants” that gave the hall its name were painted on the walls between the high windows. They were nearly five metres tall, the old wooden ceiling being about half the height of the ceiling today.
The hall achieved its present dimensions over 75 years later. The east wing was in a state of disrepair, and so Elector Johann Georg I decided to extend it upwards into the floor above by removing the ceiling altogether. The Thirty Years’ War intervened, and in the end the alterations took twenty-five years to complete. But finally, the hall was refurbished in the then-fashionable Early Baroque style. Once again, it was used for splendid banquets, but now ballets and operas were also staged here, and it was also the place where the assembly of the estates, a kind of early parliament, convened.
In 1701, a fire destroyed almost half the Palace, including the Riesensaal. It wasn’t restored until 1718, during the reign of August the Strong. This time it was decorated in the style of a Late Baroque Guard Hall. A year later, August celebrated the wedding of his son Friedrich August and the Grand Duchess Maria Josepha here. He also used the room to receive the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I at carnival time.
When August the Strong died, the Riesensaal fell out of use. His son decided to convert the space into apartments for his many children and to construct the chapel that the Queen wished for. It wasn’t until Dresden Palace was rebuilt after its destruction during World War II that the Riesensaal came into being again. Now the Riesensaal has been returned to its former glory. The architect Peter Kulka took a contemporary approach to recreating this magnificent banqueting hall, and his design gives us a sense of how one of the most important ruling dynasties of the Holy Roman Empire viewed itself. For here some of the most precious treasures of the Dresden Armoury, the Rüstkammer, are displayed.
Three large tournament scenes have been recreated with items from the collection. You will see a large number of ceremonial, tournament, and battle armours, including eminent pieces by the famous Augsburg armourer Anton Peffenhauser. He was an outstanding craftsman, one of the best in Europe. The highlight of the exhibition is the splendid array of ceremonial armours that the Electors of Saxony commissioned, purchased, or received as gifts. One of the most prominent among them is the set of armour for man and horse decorated with depictions of the Labours of Hercules, which was commissioned by King Erik XIV of Sweden in connection with his plans to marry Queen Elizabeth I of England. Over the centuries, all these magnificent suits of armour have made the Dresden Rüstkammer famous throughout the world.
Step inside – and delight in the princely splendour of this hall!
