About this place
The Neumarkt, or New Market, is the ceremonial heart of Dresden's old town, an ensemble of ornate sandstone townhouses gathered around the towering dome of the Frauenkirche. First named in 1530 when the growing city needed a second marketplace, it flourished under Augustus the Strong into one of the most admired baroque squares in Europe, immortalised in the luminous cityscapes of the painter Canaletto. On the night of 13 February 1945 that world ended in a matter of hours. The Allied firestorm swept across the square with such ferocity that afterwards not one building remained upright, and for nearly half a century the site lay as an empty scar beside the deliberately preserved ruin of the Frauenkirche. Only after German reunification did Dresden resolve to bring it back, dividing the square into eight quarters and rebuilding them piece by piece to echo their pre war form, a reconstruction crowned by the reconsecrated Frauenkirche in 2005.
Key facts
- 1530 year — The square was named when a growing Dresden split into two markets, the Altmarkt and the Neumarkt
- 8 quarters — After reunification the Neumarkt was rebuilt as eight separate 'Quartiere', each restored to its pre war look
- 1885 year — Adolf von Donndorf's bronze Martin Luther statue was cast for the square before the church
📍 Neumarkt 9, 01067, Dresden