Cinderella’s old castle copied various times in Disneyland is Neuschwanstein in Bavaria. The original of her new one, used in the recent Hollywood movie, is the Dresden Zwinger, which celebrates its 300th birthday in 2019. This year it has been decorated with Orange trees for the first time since more than 250 years.
Situated in the heart of the Saxon state capital, the Dresden Zwinger ranks among Germany’s most well-known Baroque buildings of Germany and is, apart from the Church of Our Lady, certainly the most famous building monuments in Dresden. It accommodates internationally-renowned museums and is a place for staging music and theater performances.
As a magnificent place for court festivities, Augustus the Strong had this Baroque piece of art created by the architect Matthaeus Daniel Poeppelmann to create the Zwinger and the sculptor Balthasar Permoser in the early 18th century.
With its world-famous collections, the impressive sandstone scenery harbors true treasures: In the “Old Masters” Picture Gallery, Raphael’s Sistine Madonna casts a spell on visitors. The incredible number of masterpieces of Chinese, Japanese, and Meissen porcelain in the Porcelain Collection go back to the collecting mania of Augustus the Strong. The “Royal Cabinet of Mathematical and Physical Instruments,” the oldest museum of the Dresden Zwinger, is one of the world’s most important museums of historical scientific instruments today.
Many Europeans know Cinderella’s third castle, used for a GDR-Czech Cinderella movie in 1973: Moritzburg is just 8 miles from Dresden.
As the original film-shooting location, the Moritzburg fairy-tale castle tells visitors stories about the background of the making of the movie and its plot in this winter exhibition. Lovingly remodeled scenes from the film, original costumes and multi-media enactments convey the magic spirit of the film. At the end of the walk, the castle kitchen offers tempting coffee and cake. And there are nice little items for old and young to be purchased from the museum shop.
This year again, the Moritzburg Castle will turn into this magnificent fairy-tale backdrop. From November on, some secrets and yet undisclosed background stories to the film and the fairy tale will be unveiled. More 600,000 visitors so far have allowed to be carried away by the fairy-tale enactments. Take your chance to walk in the tracks of the cheeky fairy-tale princess. For more event information, click here.
PHOTO © Sylvio Dittrich
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