Zwinger is a baroque palace and park complex located in the center of Dresden. This building is one of the most significant late baroque buildings in Europe. Originally, it served as a conservatory, exhibition gallery and festival arena.
Today, Zwinger is a museum complex with the Royal Cabinet of Mathematical and Physical Instruments, the Dresden Porcelain Collection and the Old Masters Gallery, which houses a rich collection of European paintings from the 15th to the 18th century. This is where there are, among others paintings of such painters as Titian, Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens and Albrecht Dürer.
The palace was designed by Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann on behalf of August II the Strong, elector of Saxony, who in 1697 became king of Poland. The gallery's name comes from the German word zwinger meaning "between", which refers to the location of the building, in the area that once was between the outer and inner defensive walls.
