NEUSTADT - NEW TOWN

The "new city", less prestigious than its neighbour, is still worth a visit, and not only for its bars. It is an Augustinian district entirely planned after the great fire of 1685, designed by the architect von Klengel and begun in 1718. It can be accessed via the Hauptstrasse (its living artery) which is not in fact the most beautiful (it bears a certain GDR mark). Its most prestigious artery is actually the masterly Königsstrasse, which has retained its baroque character. It can be accessed via the Auguste bridge, which dates from 1731. At the exit of the bridge, you come face to face with a massive monument: the Blockhaus, an 18th century guard house. The golden statue of the city master Augustus the Strong guards the entrance to the Hauptstrasse. Stroll through the small, elegant streets around Königsstrasse. Note the very pretty "Dreikönigskirche" (Church of the Three Kings) built in 1733-39 and rebuilt in the 1960s. The interior is also worth a visit. The main monument of the Neustadt is embodied, on this western part of the Elbe, by the Japanisches Palais, a personal work of Augustus the Strong from 1727-35. The king initially wanted to make it a palace for his guests, before transforming it into a porcelain museum (Meissen porcelain, a neighbour, was famous) with Chinese and Japanese accents. Nowadays it houses the Museum of Prehistory and the Ethnographic Museum, but it is especially worth a walk in its baroque garden on the banks of the Elbe. If you have time, take a detour to Aussere Neustadt (Rothenburger / Görlitzer Strasse), remarkable for its 19th century architecture, both classical and Jugendstil (1860-1900), which fell fallow at the end of the GDR, squatted in the 1990s during the hours of the "Republik Neustadt", then gradually rehabilitated and enriched under the influence of the culture bars and discos.