The diffused light
A hall lit by day with no visible source.
Hullbr3ach — CC BY-SA 2.5 · Bybbisch94 — CC BY 4.0 · Bybbisch94 — CC BY 4.0 · Bybbisch94 — CC BY 4.0
Dresden's central station is not merely an arrival point: built between 1892 and 1898, it uses an unusual plan combining through platforms on two levels with terminating platforms in the middle — an engineering answer to a city sitting on a through line and a terminating line at once. The station was destroyed in the February 1945 bombing along with the rest of the city, and rebuilt under East Germany in a functional way with little regard for the original. The real transformation came between 2000 and 2006, with a comprehensive renovation designed by Norman Foster's practice in Britain. The idea was simple and effective: instead of a conventional glass roof, the halls were covered with a white PTFE-coated glass-fibre membrane, translucent, which diffuses daylight so the hall appears lit with no visible source, and the building glows from within at night. Passing through is worth a few minutes of looking up, and the station is the starting point for most trips to Saxon Switzerland and Prague.
A hall lit by day with no visible source.
Through platforms on two levels, terminating ones between.
Wiener Platz 4, 01069 Dresden
Kreuzkirche DresdenThe Kreuzkirche is the largest church in Saxony and the oldest in Dresden. It ha13 minutes walk4.5
RathausturmDresden's New Town Hall was built between nineteen hundred and five and nineteen14 minutes walk4.9
The Telecommunications MuseumDresden's telecommunications museum is a small technical museum on the history o14 minutes walk4.4
StriezelmarktThe Striezelmarkt is Germany's oldest Christmas market, first recorded in 1434. 14 minutes walk4.8
German Hygiene Museum (Museum of Humankind)Don't let the odd name mislead you — "Hygiene Museum" is a historic label from 114 minutes walk4.6It depends where you are staying: the central station is south of the old town and within walking distance or one tram of most of the major sights, while Neustadt station is north of the river and closer to the nightlife and restaurant districts. Most long-distance trains stop at both, so choose by your hotel rather than by the station's importance — they are about ten minutes apart by tram.