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4.3 Conclusion
Evidently, artists from different periods viewed the city of Dresden and the landscape
of the Elbe Valley in different ways, focussing on different aspects in their depictions.
Artistic views of the city from the east have predominantly focused on the Elbe river
bends and floodplains. Comparing the city views of Hendricksz (17th century), Thiele
(18th century) and Schinkel (early 19th century), the perspective gradually shifts
towards the east. The bend in the Elbe valley between Albert Bridge and Loschwitz
Bridge was increasingly viewed, depicted and used in the composition as a cohesive
stretch of landscape in front of the city of Dresden.
Over the 19th century, a number of landmarks and vantage points emerged around the
Elbe river bend which, still today, afford impressive views between Albert Bridge and
Loschwitz Bridge. Franz Wilhelm Leuteritz’s 1868 painting, for example, already shows
the city from “Dinglingers Weinberg” and features the Elbe castles in the foreground.
Geissler’s mid-19th-century “Waldschlösschen view” offers not only a panoramic
perspective of the Dresden Altstadt but also includes landmark buildings and outstan-
ding features that have remained highly characteristic of the Elbe valley by Johannstadt
to this day. The painting clearly shows the “Antons an der Elbe” building on the left side
of the Elbe, as well as the two villas that frame the opening Elbe meadows level with
the “Preußisches Viertel” [Prussian Quarter]. The compositional interplay between city
outline, architectural landmarks, elevated vantage points and other dominant features
that still define the Elbe valley between Albert Bridge and Loschwitz Bridge today can
clearly be seen in this 19th-century painting.
The 1930s photograph taken from the Waldschlösschen pavilion demonstrates how
the public perception of this stretch of valley – gradually reinforced over generations
– was “completed” over the intervening years. A prime example of this is the creation
of the public “Königsufer” area under city building officer Paul Wolf, featuring the
Waldschlösschen pavilion as the viewing point of choice.
It appears that as the Elbe valley landscape, particularly the northern hillsides, was
developed and “cultivated” as a recreational and tourist area (as well as a sought-after
residential zone), the significance of this landscape in the depicted city views and the
significance of its vantage points to the visual perception of the city grew correspon-
dingly.
In contrast, the depiction of the cultural landscape of the Dresden Elbe Valley seems
to play a comparatively minor role in Dresden’s current city promotion materials.
Presumably this is because resources have been focused very strongly on reconstructing
the city’s historic old town over the last years. The recently completed reconstruction
of the Frauenkirche in particular has attracted a large amount of attention, and the
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