this is the Pillnitz Palace on the Banks of the Elbe river, in Dresden.
Pillnitz palace is an extraordinary ensemble of architecture and landscape gardening, set in the river landscape in front of the vineyards of the Elbe valley. Influenced by East Asian design, the construction of the water and mountain palace in the early 18th century laid the foundations for one of Europe's most significant Chinese style architectural structures. Even today, there are impressive signs of its transformation into the summer residence of the Saxon monarchy.
The Elector Friedrich August, also known as The Strong, received the Pillnitz Palace on the death of his brother. His representation policies transformed Pillnitz into the "Indian" prelude to 24 planned themed amusement palaces, which were part of an overall concept of royal entertainments. The water and mountain palace was built between 1720 to 1724 and were designed by Pöppelmann. The models for this three-part pavilion group were found in the gate complex of the Emperor of China's palace in Peking as well as on the Elbe side in the palaces of Venice as well as Palladian villas on the garden side.
Originally designed as a gate house, to convey guests on arrival into the garden section, the pavilion itself functioned as a location for parties and amusements. The pavilion was extended by the wooden celebratory architecture of the temple to Venus. An important part of the amusement palace was the garden which was divided into games areas. In 1768 with the start of the reign of Elector Friedrich August III., also known as "The Just", Pillnitz was raised to the status of a summer residence. The necessary apartments were first built into the mountain and water palace before the construction of the two wings between 1788 and 1791 meant that it had the necessary rooms for courtly ceremonies.
The development of the English and Chinese gardens up to 1790, influenced by the ideas of English landscape gardening, reflects the artistic and scientific interests of the Electors. The garden pavilions located within the garden serve this purpose as offices for study and pursuit of the arts. When the renaissance palace burned down on 1st May 1818 a new building was constructed which replaced all the functions of the old palace and gave the complex a new finish. The Palm House was built in 1859 to house the Elector's large collection of plants, and in 1879/80 the jousting building was extended into an orangerie. In 200 years Pillnitz developed from an amusement palace to a residential palace in which both art and science had their place.
sorry, i had to make it up for all those numberless posts i had gone totally astray and didnt utter a single word about whats on the card...:)
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