Semper Gallery, Renaissance art museum in Dresden, Germany
Semper Gallery stands on the northern edge of the Zwinger complex, displaying European paintings across multiple rooms with careful attention to light and space. The building combines exhibition areas with architecture that forms an integral part of the larger ensemble.
Gottfried Semper was commissioned in 1838 to design a gallery for the royal painting collection; the foundation stone was laid in 1847 and the shell finished by 1854, with the interior completed in 1855. After Semper fled Saxony in 1849, Karl Moritz Haenel and Bernhard Krüger took over the site. Allied bombing on 13 February 1945 severely damaged the building, which was rebuilt from 1955 to 1960 and reopened in 1992 after further restoration.
The gallery exhibits European paintings from the 13th to 18th centuries, including Raphael's Sistine Madonna and two paintings by Johannes Vermeer.
The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday and sits directly at Theaterplatz, making it easy to find and reach on foot. Visitors should plan several hours to explore the collections at a comfortable pace.
Gottfried Semper planned a round, much taller dome with stepped, smooth surfaces, four sculpted arched windows and a colossal metal group on top. His successors Krüger and Hänel, unaware of this intention, built the dome low and octagonal from a trial model meant only to check proportions.
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