Japanisches Palais
The Japanisches Palais is a Baroque four-wing palace on the Neustadt bank of the Elbe, rebuilt for Augustus the Strong after 1717 and named for its Japanese-style roofs.
What it is
The palace is a Baroque four-wing building around an inner courtyard on Palaisplatz, on the Neustadt bank of the Elbe.
It takes its name from its curved roofs, built in a style modelled on Japanese buildings.
History
The building goes back to the Holländisches Palais (Dutch Palace) of 1715.
Augustus the Strong acquired it in 1717 and had it rebuilt by the architects Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, Jean de Bodt and Zacharias Longuelune.
In the 18th century the palace housed court collections, among them the electoral library and the collection of antique sculpture.
The Latin inscription "Museum usui publico patens" ("a museum open to public use") is above the main entrance.
From 1834 Gottfried Semper designed the decoration of the ground-floor rooms.
The porcelain palace
Augustus planned it as a porcelain palace, with porcelain roofs and interiors, but the plan was never completed.