Moritzburg Castle

Moritzburg Castle sits on an artificial island in a large lake within the Friedewald forest, 14 kilometres from Dresden. Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, rebuilt the original Renaissance hunting lodge between 1723 and 1733 as a Baroque pleasure palace designed by architects Matthaus Daniel Poppelmann and Zacharias Longuelune. The four round towers with their distinctive onion domes, the uniform yellow-and-white facade with regular window rhythms, and the perfect reflection in the surrounding water make it one of the most visually distinctive palaces in Germany. The interior preserves the original Baroque furnishings remarkably intact, including the leather-wallpapered dining room with embossed Cordoba leather, the feather cabinet decorated with multicoloured feathers from tropical birds, the bedchamber of Augustus the Strong with state bed and tapestries, and the largest collection of Baroque hunting paintings in Europe, with over 100 paintings of hunts, game still lifes, and court hunting scenes. The Yellow and Red staircases are masterpieces of Baroque woodwork. The park and lakes surrounding the castle are popular for walking, cycling, and boating. Moritzburg is reachable from Dresden by bus route 326 from the Hauptbahnhof or by car via the B6 highway, about a 25-minute drive.