The Wackerbarth Palace, also known as the Dresdener Ritterakademie (German for "Knight's Academy of Dresden"), was a palace in
Dresden
Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, built between 1723 and 1729, under the supervision of architect Johann Christoph Knöffel (1686-1752). It was one of the several Baroque palaces in Dresden which were destroyed during the
allied bombing raids on February 13, 1945. It was named for Count August Christoph von Wackerbarth (1662-1734), a
Saxon minister and Field Marshal. The palace was situated in the city, north of the
Elbe
The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...
river, at the former Beaumontplatz near
Neustädter Markt.
Badly damaged during the Allied bombing raids, parts of it were still standing after the war. Reconstruction would have been possible, but it was demolished by the government of the
German Democratic Republic
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
(East Germany) in 1963. Presently there are no plans for a reconstruction project. However, a medallion with the image of Saxon King
August the Strong, part of the facade ornaments made by famous baroque sculptor
Benjamin Thomae, was saved and is now part of the
Johanneum.
On the other hand, other palaces in Dresden, such as the
Zwinger,
Japanisches Palais,
Residenzschloss,
Taschenbergpalais,
Palais Cosel and the
Kurländer Palace, all heavily damaged by the allied raids, were reconstructed.
External links
www.neumarkt-dresden.de Website of the GHND - Association for the reconstruction of the Dresden Neumarkt according to scientific standardsPhoto before Allied raidsPhoto after Allied raids
{{coord missing, Saxony
Houses completed in 1729
Palaces in Dresden
Baroque architecture in Dresden
Buildings and structures demolished in 1963
1729 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
Baroque palaces in Germany