2008 - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

The inner courtyard of the Albertinum: after the removal of the scaffolding
the two-storey bridge-like structure “floats” above it, December 2008
visible projecting upwards out of the courtyard and on 3rd
June 2008 the topping-out ceremony was held high above
the building.
At the end of January 2009 the Small Courtyard will be
opened to the public as a new covered space. At the same
time as the opening of the new foyer, the Palace is also to
acquire a second visitor entrance via Schlossstraße. When,
in a few years’ time, building work is also completed on the
Large Courtyard, these two representational courtyards will
take their place among the areas and spaces in the city –
such as the Zwingerhof, Theaterplatz, Schlossplatz, Stallhof
and Neumarkt – that contribute to Dresden’s urban flair.
Behind the façades of this building site, intensive planning
continued throughout 2008 for the design of the
exhibitions and the fitting out of the Fürstengalerie,
Türckische Cammer, Riesensaal and Georgenbau. The
Fürstengalerie will be opened at the end of August 2009,
with the Türckische Cammer following suit in December
2009.
The costs of constructing the roof and converting and
fitting out the foyer amount to 7.5 million Euro:
Covered surface area of the Small Courtyard: approx. 600 m 2
· Surface area of the domed roof: approx. 1,400 m 2 · Design:
self-supporting canopy with rhombic framework · The individual
sections are covered with transparent film under
constant pressure · Weight of the steel structure: 84 t.
A bridge for Art
Just five months after the topping-out ceremony in the
Small Courtyard at the Residenzschloss, on 4th November
2008 the topping-out ceremony was held at a vertiginous
The Albertinum as a building site – view of the
entrance at Georg-Treu-Platz, September 2008
height for the new storerooms of the Albertinum which
“float” above the central courtyard. The starting point for
this building project was the flood disaster of August 2002.
The flooding of Dresden’s historic city centre – and hence
also of the Albertinum – threatened to destroy invaluable
cultural assets. Consequently, it was essential to secure the
art treasures against any future flooding. The foundation
for the financing of this project was laid in 2003 by an
auction at the Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin at which artists
who had their roots in Dresden or special connections with
the city, such as Gerhard Richter and Georg Baselitz, donated
46 works to help alleviate the impact of the catastrophe.
The auction raised about 3.4 million Euro for the
flood fund.
The selection procedure for the Albertinum was won by
a spectacular design submitted by the Berlin firm of architects
Büro Staab Architekten. What is spectacular about
this design is that the storerooms and workshops are accommodated
in a new structure inserted at roof level in a
secure “Ark”. The 72 metre long two-storey bridge-like
structure spans the inner courtyard, supported only on the
two short sides and leaving a strip where daylight can
penetrate on the two longer sides. The new structure in
the former inner courtyard will create a new foyer that can
be put to a wide variety of uses.
These structural changes go hand-in-hand with a new
concept for the content of the exhibitions. The Skulpturensammlung
will in future present its antiquities collection
in the rooms currently being used by the Rüstkammer in
Gottfried Semper’s gallery building at the Zwinger, and the
exhibitions of the Galerie Neue Meister and the Skulptu-
Installation by Elisabeth
Brockmann on the exterior
wall of the Albertinum