Golden Rider, Equestrian monument at Neustädter Markt, Dresden, Germany
The Golden Rider is a gilded equestrian statue of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, shown in armour and a wig as a Roman Caesar on a rearing horse. The rider and horse are covered in gold leaf over copper, set on a stone pedestal with a Latin inscription plaque and lion heads at the corners. It stands on the Neustädter Markt, on the axis between the Augustus Bridge and Hauptstrasse.
The monument was commissioned after Augustus II died in 1733 and was completed by French sculptor Jean-Joseph Vinache in 1736. The work was created to honor the memory of the Saxon ruler.
The rider faces northeast, toward the Polish kingdom, because Augustus ruled Saxony and Poland at once. The Latin inscription on the east side of the base names him as Duke of Saxony, Elector and Archmarshal of the Holy Roman Empire, and King of Poland as Augustus II. The west side records that Augustus II's son placed the monument to his father in 1736.
The square is easily accessible by tram lines 4 and 8, which stop directly at Neustädter Markt. The monument sits at the start of Hauptstrasse and is simple to locate from many directions.
The monument was not cast in bronze: after all casting attempts failed, Ludwig Wiedemann drove it in copper between 1732 and 1734 and fire-gilded it. The workshop stood on ground now occupied by the Menageriegärten allotments in Friedrichstadt, where clay pipe fragments and slag from the work have been found.
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