Zwinger tour: three in one

Where Augustus the Strong used to celebrate glittering festivals, demonstrating his claim to power
as prince elector in Saxony and King of Poland, extraordinary collections are presented today!

Promenade along galleries and pavilions with me, past Herkules Saxonicus carrying the globe,
before we enter the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon (Mathematics and Physics Salon) and admire
an over 700-year-old Persian globe which reflects the universe known to the princes
in the sixteenth century. Other exhibits include luxuriously crafted odometers for carriages
and musical clocks from the period of Prince Elector Augustus (late sixteenth century),
as well as burning mirrors devised by the scientist E.W. von Tschirnhaus, which were
a great contribution towards the development of porcelain, the luxury good so sought after
in Europe in the eighteenth century. Our tour continues in the porcelain collection housed
in the curved Zwinger galleries, which served as orangeries in the time of Augustus the Strong
and are now large showcases for the presentation of Asian, and the first Meissen, accessories for
enjoying the three “pleasure beverages”: coffee, tea and chocolate, which were much-liked
in the Baroque period.

Towards the end of this 90-minute tour, some outstanding pictures wait to be discovered
in the Old Masters Gallery. Apart from Raphael’s world-famous Sistine Madonna there are
The Chocolate Girl by Jean Etienne Liotard and A Turk by Rosalba Carriera. Looking at
the porcelain cup full of chocolate or the coffee bowl might whet your appetite for a cup of coffee,
called the “Turkish drink” in Augustus’ time: if so, you can stop at the adjacent restaurant.