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The Splendor of Baroque
and Rococo
»As the Chief State Architect of His Majesty Augustus the Strong, life was not always easy. Not
because the »Saxon Sun King« was too disinterested in me because of his constantly changing
mistresses. No – he was always demanding new ideas and was difficult to please. He contributed
his own sketches over and over again.
He was a particular admirer of Far Eastern art. The wealth and power of the rulers in Asia were
legendary and were considered a model for many European princes. Porcelain from there was a
special treasure – therefore the Elector and King was extremely pleased that his alchemist Boettger
had succeeded in producing a similar »white gold« for the first time in Europe. Yet my mission was
to build. I brought my ideas of Asian architecture to life in Pillnitz Palace.
However, my Dresden Zwinger fills me with the greatest pride. Here I managed to combine the
arts in the most intimate way: The well-proportioned, diversely structured building virtually merges
with the rich sculptural decoration contributed by the workshop of the sculptor Balthasar Permoser.
What was originally intended as an orangery and a setting for a festival grounds became a true feast
for the eyes itself.
But of course I was not the only outstanding architect of my time. My contemporaries and
successors Johann Christoph Knoeffel, Zacharias Longuelune, and Jean de Bodt contributed to
the proliferation of magnificent buildings of the High and Late Baroque in Saxony – an era that
would later be referred to here as the »Augustan Age«.
»BUILDING
TYCOON«
Matthaeus Daniel Poeppelmann (1662 – 1736)
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