About this place
Completed in 1910 in a confident blend of neo Renaissance and baroque styles, the Neues Rathaus was designed by architect Karl Roth as a monument to Dresden's civic pride, its 100 meter tower still dominating the old town skyline. During the Third Reich it became a center of regional power, ruled by the fanatical Gauleiter and Reich Governor of Saxony, Martin Mutschmann, whose swastika banners hung from these facades and who later refused to build public air raid shelters even as he secured a private bunker for himself. The building survived the firebombing of February 1945 with heavy damage and was restored by the early 1950s. Yet the tower is most remembered for a single image: the photographer Richard Peter climbed its platform in the autumn of 1945 to capture a serene sandstone allegory of goodness gazing out over an endless sea of rubble, one of the twentieth century's most enduring symbols of war.
Key facts
- 100.3 meters — The tower's height, making it the tallest structure in Dresden's historic old town
- 19 bullet holes — Wartime scars found in the golden Hercules statue and removed during a later restoration
- 1945 year — Richard Peter climbed this tower to shoot his iconic photograph of the ruined city
📍 Rathausplatz 1, 01067, Dresden