The Courtyard of the Elements
A blue wall of metal pipes and gutters that make musical sounds in the rain.
User:Kolossos — CC BY-SA 3.0 · superscheeli from Dresden, Deutschland — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Fred Romero from Paris, France — CC BY 2.0 · Fred Romero from Paris, France — CC BY 2.0
The Kunsthofpassage is a chain of linked inner courtyards in the Neustadt district north of the Elbe, away from the touristed old town. From outside the courtyards look ordinary, but each has been designed around a completely different idea. The best known is the Courtyard of the Elements: a blue wall covered in a network of metal pipes, funnels and gutters. When it rains the water runs through them and makes musical sounds, which is why it is called the singing wall. On dry days the shape is still striking, but silent. The other courtyards have their own themes: one with metal animals on the walls, another full of colour and climbing plants, another in an eastern style. All are open to passers-by and free. The courtyards hold small shops, cafés and craft workshops. The area around is a young quarter of independent restaurants and stores — another face of Dresden entirely, quite unlike the old town.
A blue wall of metal pipes and gutters that make musical sounds in the rain.
A metal giraffe and monkeys climbing brightly coloured walls.
The area around: cafés, independent shops and murals — Dresden's young side.
Görlitzer Straße 21-25, 01099 Dresden
Pfunds MolkereiPfunds Molkerei is a small shop in Dresden's Neustadt that holds an official Gui7 minutes walk4.4
Erich Kaestner MuseumErich Kaestner was born in Dresden in eighteen ninety-nine and wrote some of the10 minutes walk4.5
The Stormy Waves FountainsA pair of fountains in northern Dresden known together as Stormy Waves and Calm 10 minutes walk4.5
St Martin's Garrison ChurchAn early twentieth-century church in the Albertstadt district north of Dresden, 10 minutes walk4.6
Museum of Dresden RomanticismThe Kügelgenhaus is a baroque merchant's house on the main street of the Neustad15 minutes walk4.5No. The pipes run on rainwater, so on a dry day you will hear nothing. The structure is striking regardless, but the sound needs rain — which in Dresden is not rare.
Yes if you have more than a day — it shows you a completely different side of the city. It is a twenty-minute walk over the bridge, and the surrounding quarter is good for an evening.
The Neustadt: streets of cafés, restaurants, independent shops and murals. The area is cheaper and livelier than the old town, and it is where younger Dresden goes.