Canaletto’s view
Head to the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Picture Gallery) in the extensive Zwinger palace complex (see below), and study the most famous view of Dresden – Canaletto’s Dresden Seen From the Right Bank of the River Elbe Below the Augustus Bridge. This 18th-century masterpiece from the Venetian great portrays the city’s Baroque gems in all their glory, before they were destroyed in the February 1945 bombings during World War II. Then go to the right bank of the Elbe, near the Augustusbrücke to the spot where Canaletto’s view was conceived, and look across to the new-old cityscape.
Theaterplatz 1, Dresden, Germany, +49 351 4914 2000

Canaletto’s Dresden Seen From the Bank of the River Elbe Below the Augustus Bridge, 1748 | © Elke Estel/Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister/Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden