Night Watchman Old Town Lamplight Tour Dresden

Luther Memorial and the Frauenkirche

The night watchman lights his lamp at the Luther Memorial, the bronze statue of the reformer that has stood on Neumarkt since 1885 and survived the bombing of 1945 while the Frauenkirche behind it collapsed. The Church of Our Lady, completed in 1743 with its 96-metre stone dome, was rebuilt between 1994 and 2005 using thousands of original stones recovered from the rubble; at night the floodlights pick out the dark old blocks in the pale new sandstone, and the square of reconstructed baroque houses around it is at its most beautiful.

Here the watchman explains his trade: in old Dresden the night watchmen called the hours, guarded against fire and thieves and kept an eye on the inns and gates, which is why he knows every scandal in town. The first stop takes about fifteen minutes before the lantern leads the group into Augustusstrasse.

Fürstenzug and the Stallhof

Along Augustusstrasse runs the Fürstenzug, the Procession of Princes, a 102-metre mural of the rulers of Saxony on horseback followed by their scientists, artists and soldiers. Painted in the 1870s and transferred to about 23,000 tiles of Meissen porcelain in 1907 to protect it from the weather, it came through the war almost unscathed and is lit well enough at night to pick out every rider. Behind the wall lies the Stallhof, the Renaissance stable yard of the castle, where tournaments were held in the sixteenth century.

The night watchman stops here for about fifteen minutes with tales of the electors who parade on the wall, the court festivities in the Stallhof and the citizens who were not allowed to watch. It is one of the best spots on any Dresden evening walking tour for a photo with the costumed guide and his lamp.

Theaterplatz: Semperoper and Hofkirche

Through the Schlossplatz and past the Hofkirche, the Catholic Court Church of 1755 with its seventy-eight statues of saints along the roofline, the walk reaches Theaterplatz, the grand square framed by the Semperoper, the Zwinger and the castle. The opera house opened in 1878, was destroyed in 1945 and reopened in 1985; at night its Renaissance-style facade and the bronze panther chariot on the roof are floodlit, and on performance evenings you see the audience arriving in the lamplight.

The watchman has stories for each building: the fire that burned the first opera house, the Saxon rulers buried in the crypt of the Hofkirche and the equestrian statue of the king in the middle of the square. Expect about twenty minutes on Theaterplatz, including time for photos of the Semperoper, which is far more dramatic lit up than by day.

The Zwinger by night

The Zwinger is the great baroque pleasure palace of Dresden, a courtyard of fountains, galleries and pavilions built between 1710 and 1728 for court festivals, with the Crown Gate, the Wall Pavilion and the Glockenspiel Pavilion whose bells are made of Meissen porcelain. In the evening the museums inside, the Old Masters Picture Gallery and the Porcelain Collection, are closed, but the courtyard stays open, quiet and softly lit, and the night watchman uses it to describe the balls and fireworks the Saxon court once staged here.

This is usually the longest stop of the walk, about twenty minutes, and the moment most people remember: the lantern, the gilded crown on the gate and the sound of the fountains. From the Zwinger the group returns through the Old Town towards Neumarkt, where the watchman blows his horn and ends the round after roughly 1.5 hours.

Why see Dresden's Old Town in the evening

Dresden's baroque centre is small enough to cross in ten minutes, but it changes completely after dark. The coach groups leave, the museums close around 18:00 and the city switches on its floodlights, so the Frauenkirche, the Hofkirche, the Semperoper and the Zwinger glow against the night sky. A Dresden tour with a costumed guide is the most entertaining way to use that hour: the watchman mixes true history with legend, sings the old watchman's call and answers questions in character.

The 19:00 start works for families, since the walk ends by 20:30 and children up to 14 join free, and it leaves time for dinner afterwards in the restaurants around Neumarkt and the Münzgasse. In December the route passes the Christmas lights of the Old Town; in summer the walk begins in daylight and ends at dusk.