"Saxony in Bloom"       Dresden

Welcomes the 24th WOC

Excerpted from Die Orchidee 74(6), p445-449, 2023

Authors:  Irene Bock and Monika Eckert, German translation assistance from Jim Carpenter

Photos: M. Eckert,  D.O.G. archive, and the Internet's Public Domain, via Safari.

Springtime in Dresden – a sea of blossoms

For everyone who has ever visited the International Orchid World in Dresden, the name alone evokes memories of an extraordinary sea of flowers, Imaginatively designed exhibition stands, growers and horticulturists from all over the world.  The overwhelming visual experience leaves nothing to be desired. Dresden has been the venue for the largest and most beautiful orchid show in Europe.  With this legacy, the expectations are high that this WOC will overwhelm and be remembered among the best for years to come.


Tradition for two centuries

Since 1998 the  German Orchid Society has continued a tradition starting from the beginning of the 19th century.  Dresden has been a known center of horticulture, botany and orchid culture. The "First Horticultural Exhibition" of the "Royal Saxon Society for Botany and Horticulture," founded in 1826, called "Flora" for short, took place in Dresden in May 1829. It was an exhibition with 700 flowering plants in the palace of the "Großer Garten," even including two much-noted flowering Orchis militaris. 


From then on, many more horticultural exhibitions followed in Dresden, where orchids increased steadily. The "First International Horticultural Exhibition" in Dresden in 1886 already had 500 exhibitors on 7,000 square meters of greenhouse and building space. Orchids were now a natural focus, with such notable participants as Sander from England and Vuylsteke from Belgium. The "Second International Exhibition" in 1896 and the "Great   Horticultural Exhibition" in 1900 were followed by the "Third International Horticultural Exhibition".  The head of the orchid department was now the Berlin orchid gardener Beyrodt, who in 1906 founded and became the first president of the German Orchid Society.


Notable of the many sights to see in and around Dresden!


Along with the Semper Opera House and the Zwinger, the Frauenkirche is the city's landmark. The outstanding baroque building was begun in 1726 and was completed in 1743, after 17 years. In a single deadly night of bombing in February 1945, the Frauenkirche was destroyed by a conflagration along with much of the city center. The heap of rubble remained untouched as a reminder of the war. It was not until 45 years later that reconstruction began. The stones that could still be used were cleaned and marked so that they could be reinserted in the appropriate places. Since most of the original plans still existed, the project was undertaken with the participation of many different countries, restorers, craftsmen and donors from all over the world. In 2005, the church was rededicated in the presence of guests of honor from all over the world.

The  Zwinger is reminiscent of an original fortress complex. The Elector Augustus the Strong, who was also King of Poland, had buildings built here for his Mediterranean plants, especially orange trees, and for large festivities. In addition to the beautiful Crown Gate, today, various parts of the complex have been converted into museums, such as the Old Masters Picture Gallery with Raphael's Sistine Madonna, the Armory, a porcelain collection, the Mathematical-Physical Salon and also the State Museum of Zoology.

The  Semper Opera House is one of Europe's most beautiful musical theaters. In 1841, the first performance was staged in the house designed and constructed by Gottfried Semper. In 1869, the building was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1871 through 1879 according to the plans of Gottfried Semper. In February 1945, it was destroyed for the second time. In 1977, the reconstruction, according to the original plans, could begin, and in 1985, exactly 40 after the second destruction, the Semper Opera House was opened for the third time.

The  Green Vault is probably Europe's oldest and richest treasury. The name goes back to the vault on the first floor of the residential palace, designated in 1572 and partly painted green, which contained the treasure of the Wettins (the princely dynasty provided margraves, electors and kings in what is now Saxony, Thuringia and Lausitz for more than 800 years). August the Strong transformed it into a museum between 1723 and 1729. He expanded his collection of art treasures considerably through purchases and special orders. 


The Green Vault hit the headlines with a spectacular art heist in November 2019, in which jewelry worth over 113 million Euros was stolen. However, their non-material value is immeasurable.


Dresden – the Florence on the Elbe

But Dresden has much more to offer. The historic city center, which was almost destroyed during the war and more or less left to decay in the years that followed, was and is being rebuilt by the people of Dresden with great energy, verve, and attention to detail. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, guests from all over the world have once again flocked to the capital of Saxony, which today is once again a place of art and culture and can effortlessly continue its earlier glory days. 


The Elbe flows through the city as a lifeline and is bordered on both sides by parks up to 400 meters wide and spacious green areas, the so-called Elbe meadows. These meadows provide a pleasant climate over a length of 30 kilometers, especially in summer, and also offer residents and visitors ample space for recreation and extensive leisure activities.


The city of art and culture can be reached by the airport, which is only a few kilometers away from the city center, and by a well-developed highway, road and railroad network. Within the city, one can easily travel by public transport.


The  Procession of Princes in Dresden is a larger-than-life image of a cavalcade of riders applied to some 23,000 tiles of Meissen porcelain. The 102-meter-long work of art, considered the largest porcelain mural in the world, depicts the ancestral gallery of the 34 margraves, dukes, electors and kings from the dynasty of the Wettin dynasty that ruled Saxony between 1127 and 1873. The Procession of Princes is located not far from the Frauenkirche on the outside of the stable yard of the Dresden Residence Palace, where it was installed in its present form in 1907. This work of art survived the night of the bombing in February 1945 largely undamaged.


Sights around Dresden

Dresden's immediate surroundings also attract visitors with numerous sights such as Radebeul, which exudes an almost southern flair with its vineyards and small wine taverns, and Moritzburg, with the baroque-moated castle of the same name. On the other hand, Meissen has gained world renown as a porcelain city. To the southeast of Dresden are the ornate baroque gardens of Großsedlitz and the somewhat idiosyncratically built Weesenstein Castle. Via Pirna with its "Camellia Castle" Country manor Pirna-Zuschendorf, you finally reach the bizarre rock world of Saxon Switzerland with the Elbe Sandstone Mountains.