Brühl's Terrace

Nicknamed "The Balcony of Europe", the terrace stretches high above the bank of the river Elbe, and is located north of the recently rebuilt Neumarkt Square and the Frauenkirche.

After the Saxon defeat at the Battle of Leipzig and the occupation by Russian troops, military governor Prince Nikolai Grigorjevich Repnin-Volkonski ordered the opening to the public in 1814.

He charged the architect Gottlob Friedrich Thormeyer with the building of a flight of stairs at the western end to reach the terrace from Castle Square and Augustus Bridge.

The ensemble was totally destroyed in February 1945 when the city was heavily hit by the Allied Bombing of Dresden during the end phase of World War II.

Today, Brühl's Terrace is again one of the main city landmarks besides the Frauenkirche (Church of our Lady), Dresden Castle, the Hofkirche and buildings on Theatre Square such as the Zwinger and the Semperoper, which are all located in the vicinity.

View towards Hofkirche and Semperoper
The Albertinum with Frauenkirche behind, from Brühl's Terrace
Brühl's Stairs and Ständehaus
Academy of Fine Arts and Frauenkirche
Around 1900, looking similar today. Bruehl's Terrace (left) is made up of several buildings. The image shows the Carolabrücke bridge in the front and the better-known Augustusbrücke bridge in the background.