Berlin, Potsdam, Dresden - Art & Architecture in Brandenburg & Saxony

Berlin, Potsdam, Dresden - Art & Architecture in Brandenburg & Saxony

• Chief cities of Brandenburg-Prussia and Saxony, rich in fine and decorative arts.
• Internationally important historic and contemporary architecture.
• Rebuilding and restoration continues to transform the cities. 
• Led by Dr Jarl Kremeier, an art historian specialising in 17th- to 19th-century architecture and decorative arts.

INTRO

ITINERARY

DETAILS

GALLERY

PRE & POST

INTRODUCTION

Potsdam, the Neues Palais,late-19th-century wood engraving.

Berlin is an upstart among European cities. Until the seventeenth century it was a small town of little importance, but by dint of ruthless and energetic rule, backed by the military prowess for which it became a byword, the hitherto unimportant state of Brandenburg-Prussia became one of the most powerful in Germany. By the middle of the eighteenth century, with Frederick the Great at the helm, it was successfully challenging the great powers of Europe.

Ambitious campaigns were instituted to endow the capital with grandeur appropriate to its new status. Palaces, public buildings and new districts were planned and constructed. At nearby Potsdam, Frederick’s second capital, he created the park of Sanssouci, among the finest ensembles of gardens, palaces and pavilions to be found anywhere. Early in the nineteenth century Berlin became of international importance architecturally when Karl Friedrich Schinkel, the greatest of Neo-Classical architects, designed several buildings there.

Berlin has museums of art and antiquities of the highest importance. The Pergamon Museum and Gemäldegalerie are among the best of their kind and the recently opened Neues Museum, designed by David Chipperfield, provides an excellent setting for the Egyptian collection. The reunited city is now one of the most exciting in Europe. A huge amount of work has been done to knit together the two halves of the city and to rebuild and restore monuments which had been neglected for decades.

Dresden was the capital of the Electorate of Saxony. Though it suffered terrible destruction during the War, rebuilding and restoration now allow the visitor to appreciate once again something of its former beauty. The great domed Frauenkirche has now been triumphantly reconstructed. Moreover, the collections of fine and applied arts are magnificent. The Old Masters Gallery in Dresden is of legendary richness, the Green Vault is the finest surviving treasury of goldwork and objets d’art, and the Albertinum reopened in 2010 to display a fine collection of nineteenth and twentieth-century art.

ITINERARY

DAY 1

This is the itinerary for 2015. Our departure in 2014 is now full.

Dresden. Fly at c. 10.45am from London Heathrow to Berlin (British Airways) and drive to Dresden. Introductory lecture before dinner. First of four nights in Dresden.

DAY 2

Dresden. Take a walk around the old centre of Dresden. Visit the great domed Frauenkirche, the Protestant cathedral. The Zwinger is a unique Baroque confection, part pleasure palace, part arena for festivities and part museum for cherished collections. Visit the excellent porcelain museum and the fabulously rich Old Masters Gallery, particularly strong on Italian and Netherlandish painting.

DAY 3

Dresden. Start at the Hofkirche, the catholic church commissioned by Frederick Augustus II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, to counterbalance the building of the Frauenkirche. The Green Vault of the Residenzschloss displays one of the world’s finest princely treasuries. Some free time for independent exploration before an afternoon visit to the New Masters Gallery in the Albertinum.

DAY 4

Dresden, Pillnitz. Take a boat trip to Pillnitz, a summer palace in Chinese Rococo style, with park, gardens and collections of decorative art. Drive back to Dresden for an afternoon visit of the Palais im Großen Garten, the first major Baroque building in the city.

DAY 5

Dresden, Berlin. Stroll in Dresden-Neustadt on the right bank of the Elbe, little damaged in the War, taking in amongst others the Baroque Quarter around Königsstrasse, a Japanese Palace and the Dresden Museum for Romanticism. After lunch travel to Berlin by coach. Survey the historic architecture along and around Unter den Linden: the Arsenal, Schinkel’s Guardhouse, Frederick the Great’s Opera House, the Gendarmenmarkt with twin churches and concert hall. First of four nights in Berlin.

DAY 6

Berlin. Spend the morning on ‘Museums Island’: the Altes Museum, a major Neo-Classical building by Schinkel, displays the collection of Classical antiquities; the Alte Nationalgalerie houses an excellent collection of 19th-century paintings and sculptures; the Neues Museum (elaborately restored under the direction of British architect David Chipperfield) is the new home of the Egyptian Museum (famous for the bust of Nefertiti); the Bode Museum, houses a splendid, comprehensive collection of European sculpture, including works by Riemenschneider, as well as Byzantine art.

DAY 7

Potsdam. The enclosed park of Sanssouci was created as a retreat from the affairs of state by Frederick the Great. It consists of gardens, parkland, palaces, pavilions and auxiliary buildings. In the afternoon, visit his relatively modest single-storey palace atop terraces of fruit trees, the exquisite Chinese teahouse and the large and imposing Neues Palais. Drive through Potsdam town centre with its Dutch quarter and cathedral by Schinkel.

DAY 8

Berlin. Drive to Schloss Charlottenburg, the earliest major building in Berlin, an outstanding summer palace built with a Baroque core and Rococo wings, fine interiors, paintings by Watteau, extensive gardens, pavilions and a mausoleum. The Berggruen Collection of Picasso and classic modern art is also here and has recently reopened after extensive renovation works. In the evening visit Norman Foster’s glass dome capping the Reichstag and have dinner in the roof-top restaurant.

DAY 9

Berlin. In the 1990s Potsdamer Platz was Europe’s greatest building project and showcases an international array of architects (Piano, Isozaki, Rogers, Moneo). Scattered around the nearby ‘Kulturforum’ are museums, the State Library and the Philharmonie concert hall (Hans Scharoun 1956–63). The Gemäldegalerie houses one of Europe’s major collections of Old Masters. Choose between the Neue Nationalgalerie (changing exhibitions in a Mies van der Rohe building) or the Museum of Musical Instruments. Fly from Berlin to Heathrow, arriving at c. 5.45pm.