Recommended flight:

Departure from Paris Charles de Gaulle at 9.05 am.

Arrival at Prague Václav Havel Airport at 10.50 am.

Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes (direct flight)

Upon your arrival in Prague, a private transfer will take you to Dresden (approximately two hours by road).

You will arrive in Dresden in the early afternoon, after which you will deposit your luggage at your hotel.

You will then meet your guide, Laurence, to begin your discovery of Dresden.

At 3.00 pm, a talk on Augustus the Strong will begin, presented in the form of a walking tour through the city.

You will visit the historic heart of the city, taking in the Zwinger, the Opera Square, the Catholic Cathedral, the Frauenkirche (the Protestant Church of Our Lady), the Brühl Terrace and the Procession of Princes.

Are you familiar with Augustus the Strong? Were one to simplify matters (perhaps a little too broadly), he might be described as the Saxon Louis XIV. Indeed, this monarch of the House of Wettin visited the court of the Sun King in his youth and was so profoundly impressed by it that, following his unexpected accession to the throne (he was a younger son), he resolved to devote his reign to the fine arts and to science. Under his rule (from 1694 to 1733), Dresden was adorned with extraordinary architectural jewels, as well as with marvels of goldsmithery and porcelain, earning the city the epithet ‘Florence of the Elbe’. As for why he was nicknamed ‘the Strong’: of powerful build, he delighted in displaying his strength by breaking horseshoes in public, or by tossing… foxes into the air during costumed festivities.

It is this fascinating figure whom we invite you to discover during a walking tour of Dresden’s historic centre, where his influence remains ever present.

At 6.00 pm, return to your hotel and check-in.

In the evening, a private visit to the Historic Green Vault at Dresden Royal Palace.

As mentioned above, Augustus the Strong was a great patron, not only of the arts, but also of jewellery and of science. In 1724, he opened the Green Vault in a wing of his palace (the historic Grünes Gewölbe), which unfolds before us here in the privileged tranquillity of a private visit. Such was the abundance of treasures, however, that a modern Green Vault was opened over the following centuries, which we shall visit tomorrow. Reopened in 2006, the Historic Green Vault displays its sumptuous treasures within state rooms conceived exactly as the monarch had envisaged them at the beginning of the eighteenth century.

At 8.00 pm, dinner, followed by an overnight stay at your hotel.

Breakfast at your hotel.

At 10.00 am, the day will begin with a visit to Dresden Royal Palace, including the Modern Green Vault and the Turkish Chamber of Augustus the Strong.

The history of Dresden Royal Palace is a fascinating one. Although its first stones date back to the Middle Ages, it was under the reign of Augustus the Strong that the palace attained its full splendour. Comprising jewels and adornments, the collection of the Modern Green Vault includes diadems, crowns, chalices and rings, as well as inestimable scientific instruments. Among these treasures, the celebrated Dresden Green Diamond is certain to dazzle you! Among the palace’s other curiosities is the admirable Turkish Chamber, which Augustus the Strong envisaged as the most important collection of Ottoman art outside Turkey. Likewise, the ballroom and the throne room bear witness to the extraordinary splendour of the Saxon court.

At 12.30 pm, lunch.

Free afternoon, followed by a sumptuous evening at the Semperoper.

No visit to Dresden would be complete without attending a performance at the Semperoper. First opened in 1838, and repeatedly damaged (and rebuilt) by floods and by war, it is quite simply one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world. Wagner, and above all Richard Strauss (who premiered no fewer than nine works there!), were among its most illustrious guests, as too was the music of Mozart.

At 7.00 pm, at the Semperoper:

THE MAGIC FLUTE, by W. A. Mozart

Return to, and overnight stay at, your hotel.

Breakfast at your hotel.

At 10.00 am, you will begin your day with a visit to the Old Masters Picture Gallery, a magnificent collection bringing together Italian and German Renaissance painting alongside works from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

We set off for a remarkable morning devoted to art, visiting the city’s two most celebrated museums: the Old Masters Picture Gallery and the New Masters Picture Gallery. In the former, one may admire a sublime collection of Italian Renaissance works (including Raphael’s Sistine Madonna, acquired in 1754 by Augustus III), together with numerous Dutch and Flemish paintings (including rare canvases by Vermeer), not to mention masterpieces by Velázquez, Poussin and Canaletto.

Augustus II the Strong would never have used the term ‘soft power’. Yet it was precisely with the aim of elevating his kingdom to the rank of the leading European powers that he acquired, throughout his reign, paintings by the great masters of the Renaissance and their contemporaries. This effort would be continued by his son, Augustus III, and would allow the collections of the Dresden museums to become among the richest and most important in the world.

At 12.00 pm, a visit to the New Masters Picture Gallery (nineteenth century), featuring the Romantic painting of Caspar David Friedrich, Max Liebermann and Otto Dix. Equally prestigious, the New Masters Picture Gallery presents paintings from the nineteenth century to the present day. Here, too, one finds the great names of German Expressionism, such as Otto Dix, as well as masters of our own era, such as Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter. Yet it is perhaps thanks to its splendid collection of works by Caspar David Friedrich that the museum is most definitively distinguished, with close to a dozen canvases by the Romantic master on display.

Lunch and afternoon at leisure.

At 7.00 pm, at the Semperoper:

FIDELIO, by L. van Beethoven

After the opera, the remainder of the evening is free. Overnight stay at your hotel.

After breakfast at your hotel, transfer to, and visit of, Meissen, home to Europe’s first porcelain manufactory.

China guarded the secret of porcelain manufacture so closely that it had to be reinvented elsewhere. Europe’s first porcelain manufactory still exists, and still produces its wares, in the delightful town of Meissen.

Did you know? Porcelain originated in China around the seventh century AD, and it was Marco Polo’s travels in Asia that first revealed it to the wider world. The true birthplace of porcelain in Europe, however, is not the Sèvres Manufactory in France (founded in 1740), but rather the charming town of Meissen, under the impetus of King Augustus the Strong at the very beginning of the eighteenth century. Situated some twenty kilometres from Dresden, Meissen was, above all, a town spared the bombing of the Second World War, and it continues to live to the rhythm of ‘white gold’. We shall have the pleasure of visiting the manufactory, where we may admire the artisans’ expertise as well as the various stages involved in producing a work of art. How does one recognise porcelain originating from Meissen? By its crossed-swords emblem, of course! We shall also visit the museum, which displays the finest creations from Meissen’s rich history, before concluding with an organ made, naturally, of… porcelain.

Visit of the Manufactory (Workshops and Museum), followed by a concert on a porcelain organ, the only one of its kind in the world.

Lunch at the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory.

At the end of the day, a brief tour of the town, followed by a return to Dresden (approximately fifty minutes by road).

At 6.00 pm, at the Kulturpalast:

RECITAL BY DANIIL TRIFONOV

Dinner and an overnight stay at your hotel.

Breakfast at your hotel, followed by check-out.

Departure for Saxon Switzerland, the landscape that inspired Caspar David Friedrich, the leading figure among the German Romantic painters. Here, one discovers extraordinary landscapes of forests, rock formations and the Elbe Valley.

A brief stop at the Bastei, a viewpoint atop a rocky outcrop offering an unrivalled panorama over the entire region.

The Elbe Valley is truly astonishing! Close to the Czech border, the landscape is utterly transformed: impressive sandstone cliffs rise up, forming a verdant plateau dotted with magnificent rock formations. The region is said to have been nicknamed ‘Saxon Switzerland’ since the eighteenth century, owing to the resemblance two Swiss artists perceived with their native Jura. A paradise for hiking and free climbing, the region is equally renowned for its splendid fortresses and castles. We shall stop at one of the loveliest spots in the valley: the Bastei, a superb belvedere offering a sweeping panorama over the river. The perfect way, just before returning home, to feel like one of the Romantic ‘Wanderers’ from a canvas by Caspar David Friedrich!

At around 12.00 pm, departure for Prague Airport, with arrival expected at 2.00 pm.

Recommended flight:

Departure from Prague Václav Havel Airport at 3.50 pm.

Arrival at Paris Charles de Gaulle at 5.40 pm.

Duration: 1 hour 50 minutes (direct flight)