History

The cornerstone for the electoral armoury was laid in 1559. According to plans by Caspar Voigt von Wierandt, the magnificent building – previously comprising only one storey – was carried to completion in 1563 under the direction of Melchior Trost and his successor, Paul Buchner. Worthy of comparison with the armouries of Venice and Vienna, the Dresden arsenal was one of the grandest and most highly recognized works of architecture of its kind in Europe.

Under August III, Johann Georg Maximilian von Fürstenhoff planned the expansion of the edifice into a three-storey structure with a high hipped roof. This measure was carried out in 1743-47. The monumental building owes its present-day appearance largely to the designs of Karl Adolf Canzler, according to which the exterior was considerably altered in the style of the Italian High Renaissance. This construction phase was completed in 1887. It was Canzler who introduced the strong emphasis on the horizontal, brought about – for example – by the clear architectural differentiation between the individual storeys. Striking bays crowned with sandstone figures lend structure to the rigorously symmetrical exterior, of which the main facade faces the Brühlsche Terrasse.

In the period around 1900, under the direction of Georg Treu, the steadily growing Sculpture Collection had come to be considered a museum for which the world new no equal. It was in this period that the Albertinum received its name in honour of King Albert, who reigned from 1873 to 1902. The building was severely damaged during the bomb attacks of 1945. Reconstruction was begun immediately after the war, and since 1953 the Albertinum has served as one of Dresden’s most important exhibition buildings. For forty-four years it housed the famous Green Vault, which – having moved on September 8, 2004 – is now once again on view in the Dresden Royal Palace.

Because of substantial restructuring and new building of a depository the Albertinum is closed from January 3, 2006 on.