Dresdner Totentanz, Relief sculpture in Dreikönigskirche, Dresden, Germany

Dresdner Totentanz is a sandstone relief in the Dreikönigskirche showing a procession of figures led by Death playing a wind instrument. The work occupies a dedicated space beneath the organ loft and displays carefully carved details in each figure.

Christoph Walther I carved the sandstone frieze around 1534 for the facade of the Georgentor, which Duke Georg the Bearded was rebuilding between 1533 and 1535. Damaged in the 1701 castle fire, it was taken down and given by Augustus the Strong to the Dreikönigskirche in 1721, then moved to the Inner Neustädter Friedhof wall in 1737. It was recovered in 1974, restored from 1984, and mounted opposite the altar in 1990.

The relief depicts people from different social ranks - clergy, nobility, and ordinary citizens - standing together, showing that death treats all people equally regardless of their position or background.

The relief hangs opposite the altar beneath the organ loft, mounted with rear ventilation and reversibly fixed during the final phase of the church's reconstruction in 1990. It is 12.50 metres long and 1.20 metres high, so the figures are best read by walking along its length rather than standing at one spot.

The relief was taken down in 1974 and stored at the Institut für Denkmalpflege, then re-mounted in 1990 opposite the altar. In December 2020 the outer wall of the Innerer Neustädter Friedhof, one of its former sites, was painted with graffiti based on its motifs by Jens Besser, funded with 17,200 euros.