Mysterious Night Watchman Evening Walking Tour Dresden

Theaterplatz and the Semper Opera House

The walk starts on Theaterplatz, the grand square beside the Elbe that is framed by the Semper Opera House, the Zwinger, the Catholic Court Church and the castle, with the equestrian monument of a Saxon king at its centre as the meeting point. The opera house is the third on this site: the first burned down in 1869, its successor opened in 1878 in Italian Renaissance style, was destroyed in February 1945 and reopened after a faithful reconstruction in 1985. Its curved facade, lit in the evening, is one of the finest views in Dresden.

The night watchman gathers his group here at 20:00, blows his horn and explains his old trade: calling the hours, watching for fire and keeping robbers out of the lanes. The square is also the best place for a first photograph of the Dresden Old Town by night before the walk heads to the Zwinger, a few steps away.

The Zwinger

The Zwinger is the baroque masterpiece of Dresden, built between 1710 and 1728 as an orangery and festival ground for the Saxon court on the site of the old fortifications, which gives it its name. Its pavilions, galleries and the Crown Gate with its golden crown enclose a vast courtyard with fountains, and the Nymphs' Bath in one corner is a grotto of sculpted figures and cascades. Today the buildings hold the Old Masters picture gallery, the porcelain collection and the mathematical instruments salon.

On the night watchman walk you pass along the Zwinger from outside and, when the courtyard gates are open, step inside for a moment of the illuminated facades. The guide tells how the court celebrated here and what happened to the Zwinger in 1945 and after. Many visitors ask whether the Zwinger is worth visiting at night; by lantern light, with the fountains quiet, it is one of the most atmospheric stops of the tour.

Dresden Castle and the Procession of Princes

Dresden Castle, the Residenzschloss, was the seat of the rulers of Saxony for almost four hundred years and today houses the Green Vault with its treasures, the armoury and the coin cabinet. The night watchman walks you past its Renaissance courtyards and the Stallhof, the old tournament yard, to the long outer wall of the stables where the Procession of Princes runs for more than a hundred metres: a mural of about twenty-three thousand Meissen porcelain tiles, completed in 1907, showing the rulers of Saxony riding in a line through eight centuries.

The mural survived the firestorm of 1945 almost undamaged, and by evening light it is the most photographed wall in Dresden. The guide points out the details, from the horses to the artists and craftsmen at the end of the procession, and tells stories of the castle's dungeons and the prisoners held there. This stop takes about fifteen minutes.

Schlossplatz and Brühl's Terrace

From the castle the walk crosses Schlossplatz, the square between the castle, the Catholic Court Church and the Augustus Bridge over the Elbe, and climbs the broad stairs to Brühl's Terrace, the raised promenade built on the old city ramparts and known since the nineteenth century as the balcony of Europe. From here you look across the river to the lights of the New Town and along the Old Town skyline, and in summer the terrace is still busy at this hour.

The night watchman uses the terrace to tell the darker tales of the river and the fortifications: floods, sieges, executions and the shady figures who worked the riverbank after dark. The Court Church beside the square, completed in 1755, holds the tombs of the Saxon rulers and is lit beautifully at night. Allow about twenty minutes for this part, including the view.

The Frauenkirche and Neumarkt

The walk ends on Neumarkt in front of the Frauenkirche, the great domed Protestant church built between 1726 and 1743, whose stone dome of more than ninety metres gave Dresden its silhouette. The church collapsed on 15 February 1945, two days after the bombing, and its ruins were left for fifty years as a memorial before reconstruction began in 1994; the rebuilt church, finished in 2005 with its darker original stones set among the new, is the symbol of the city's rebirth. By night the floodlit dome rises over the rebuilt baroque houses of Neumarkt.

The night watchman ends his round here with a last story and the traditional call of the hour. If you are planning how to see the Frauenkirche inside, it is open during the day with free entry, and the dome climb gives the best view over the route you have just walked. The tour finishes after about an hour and a half, a short walk from the tram stops at Altmarkt and Pirnaischer Platz.