Hofkirche, Dresden

Where?

In the Old City, on Theaterplatz, right by the Zwinger Palace and the Opera

What?

Hofkirche was the main Catholic church of the Saxon royal court, and the primary church of Dresden in Saxony's heyday. Built in mid-18th century by Gaetano Chiaveri in the Baroque style, The church became a cathedral in the second half of 20th century. Richly decorated both inside and outside, Hofkirche still has some of the finest statues in Dresden, mostly sculpted by Lorenzo Mattielli. Another striking feature is the 80m+ belfry, crowned with a copper onion dome.

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The exterior of the church is striking, with its 85.5m high tower and its 78 statues in niches and on the balustrades.
Notable features of the interior are the processional ambulatories, Balthasar Permoser's magnificently carved pulpit (1722), the altarpiece of the Ascension (by Mengs, 1750-51) and the Silbermann organ (1750-53), Silbermann's last and finest work.
In four burial vaults are the remains of kings and princes of Saxony. An urn contains the heart of Augustus the Strong. His body was buried in Krakow.

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The Katholische Hofkirche (The Catholic Church of the Royal Court of Saxony) is a Roman Catholic Cathedral, located in the 'Altstadt' in the heart of Dresden.
The Church with an openwork tower in height of 83 meters is located on the western side of the Royal Palace square . There are 78 statues, height of each of which more than 3 meters, on a roof of church.
The church was erected under the order of August Strong, accepted a Catholicism to become king of Poland. It was built by architect Gaetano Chiaveri from 1738 to 1751. Preparation for construction of a Catholic cathedral in style of a late baroque was conducted in the deepest secret since over Dresden was dominated at this time with Protestant religion.
The church was badly damaged during World War II and was restored during the mid-1980s.

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The cathedral called "Katholische Hofkirche" is the largest church in Saxony. It was built 1738 - 1755 by Gaetano Chiaveri as the latest masterpiece of Roman Baroque in Europe. The tall, graceful tower is one of Dresden's landmarks.

As you may know Saxony is the birthplace of Reformation. However, when Elector Duke Augustus the Strong wanted to become King of Poland he had to convert to Catholizism. At first a small chapel in the Royal Comedy Theatre was sufficient for catholic services, but when his son took over (he was married to *very* catholic Maria Josepha, daughter of the Habsburg Emperor!) he gave order to build an impressive Catholic church.

Inside you must see Permoser's Baroque pulpit (relocated from the previous chapel), the fantastic altar painting by Raphael Anton Mengs (Ascension, 1752 - 65) and the organ by Gottfried Silbermann - his latest work. Well worth to see are also the chapels at the four corners with stucco marble and beautiful paintings (Stefano Torelli, Louis de Silvestre, Franz Karl Palko). The sacrament's chapel was restored originally after the destruction in WWII, the others more basic. Very interesting and moving is the memorial chapel (former John Nepomuk chapel). The altar and the pieta were made of Meissen porcelain by Friedrich Press in 1973. High on the side walls you can read the words of the last prayer prior to the fateful night of 13 February 1945 (the bombing). Almost prophetic.

Every Wednesday and Saturday free organ concert 11.30 - 12.00 am.

Don't miss a guided tour of the burial vault with tombs of the Saxon Kings.

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In 1980 the former Hofkirche was renamed into the Kathedrale St. Trinitatis.

The original church construction started in 1739 and lasted till 1755 during the time August III of Poland was in power. The architect was Gaetano Chiaveri who came up with a Baroque design.

The church was heavely damaged by bombardments in Worl War II, but was restored completely in 1965.

In the graves in the basement 49 Rulers are buried and also the heart of "August des Starken", who is buried at Krakow.

On the outer balustrade 78 statutues of Saints are erected. On the 85.5 meters high tower are symbolic statues for Faith, Hope, Love and Justice.

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The Cathedral - or Hofchurch - is an outstanding barokmonument on the Slotsquare and Theatresquare. After the Zwinger and Frauenkirche is the Cathedral the thirt barokmonument of Dresden. The Cathedral is 86 m high with 78 holyfigures, have a groundbase of 4800 m² and is the bigest church of Saksen.

See also an unknow Dutch choir to sing in the Cathedral.

The former Catholic Church on the castle grounds (Hofkirche) became the cathedral of the diocese Dresden/Meißen in 1980. It is Saxony’s biggest church. And it is beautiful, built of limestone, with 78 massive three metre high statues of saints surrounding the balustrades. They look much smaller than they are in reality – as is the whole church which was BTW Dresden’s last big Baroque building. It looks very light and airy.

The story of this church is also very interesting. It had to be built because August the Strong wanted to become King of Poland. Unfortunately he was protestant and absolutely needed to become Catholic to achieve this goal. So he converted to Catholicism in the protestant city of Dresden, and Dresden’s taxpayers later had to pay for the construction of the immensely expensive cathedral. Not only the Dresdners were upset, but also August’s wife and his son who later became Elector Friedrich August II and King August III of Poland. When he converted to catholicism in 1712 it was kept secret for a while.

It was him who requested the church to be built in 1733, and he hired the Italian architect Gaetano Chiaveri. He had known him in Warsaw – and was happy to hire him because he did not find any willing Protestants for the job in Dresden.

A lot of Italian craftsmen were brought into Dresden. They lived in small houses nearby. They are now known as Italienisches Dörfchen (Italian Village) on Theaterplatz. Now a place for having a coffee.

Works started in 1739. But soon problems started, and after arguments (because he did not get much support) an angry Chiaveri left in 1749. After that some Saxon master-builders were found who finished the job, and the church was consecrated in 1751.

The Silbermann organ and some paintings survived the 1945 bombings as they had been taken out of the church and put into storage a year earlier.

Reconstruction took from 1945 until 1987.

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Though rebuilt sooner than the Frauenkirche the original Hofkirche was a built not only after the impressive “stone bell” but in response to it. With August the Strong a converted Catholic due to his coronation as the Polish King, he wanted a place of worship equal to the famous Protestant Frauenkirche so he employed Italian architect Gaetano Chiaveri and began his plan in secret to erect the 83 meter oval structure. Though the angular belfry is its hallmark feature another interesting aspect are the seventy-eight 3 meter statues of biblical figures that look out over the city from the remaining oval roof. It was originally built between 1738 and 1751 but as with most of Dresden’s old city center was completely destroyed in 1945’s bombing. The rebuilt structure was begun in 1979 and features an amazing pulpit in the Rocco style by Permoser and a restoration of the last organ built by famed Gottfried Silbermann. Though his body is buried in Krakow, Poland August the Strong showed his allegiance to the city by having is heart laid to rest here.