DRESDEN.-Even now, a queue of visitors hoping to obtain some of the highly sought-after admission tickets to the Historisches Grünes Gewölbe (Historic Green Vault) still forms every morning on the days when the museum is open. For only those people are admitted who have a ticket stating the date and time of their visit. Those who do not wish to queue have usually secured their ticket well in advance. Around 60% of the tickets are sold in this way, with the remaining 40% being available at the ticket office for same-day visits. Up to the end of this year all the advanced-sale tickets are sold out. Advance tickets are available from January 2008, but there are already bookings for every month of the coming year. Tickets for the months of January, March, April and May are especially in demand. Since its reopening, 320,000 visitors have experienced the Historisches Grünes Gewölbe. Tickets were sold out every day. A year after its reopening, interest in Europe’s most splendid baroque treasury has not waned in the least.

Following a series of ceremonial events to mark the opening, which was made possible by the official sponsors of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Dresden State Art Collections), the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, and through our sponsor A. Lange & Söhne, the doors of the Historisches Grünes Gewölbe opened to art lovers from all over the world on 15th September 2006. The rebirth of this unique baroque ensemble that the world has inherited from August the Strong but which had only existed in people’s memories and imaginations since the Second World War was accompanied by worldwide media interest. Sixty-one years after the end of the war, the treasury was given back to the art world. Largely a work of restoration and only to a lesser extent of reconstruction, the Historisches Grünes Gewölbe has an authentic aura about it. “That despite the war and its aftermath the Historisches Grünes Gewölbe presents this almost perfectly preserved unique collection of artworks in its historic baroque setting makes it a treasury that is unrivalled anywhere in the world”, says Prof. Dr. Dirk Syndram, Director of the Grünes Gewölbe.

The special security and climatic conditions in the treasury, where most of the works of art are presented without showcases, require that the number of visitors be limited and that time-specific tickets be issued. This procedure has proven successful in every respect. As when visiting the theatre, for example, the guests arrive at a specified time. You enter the treasury through a special security gate which ensures the preservation of the climatic conditions in the exhibition area. Once inside, you are overwhelmed by the magnificent objects presented in rooms that are not overcrowded. In practice, it has been found that the limit of 100 persons per hour which was originally calculated could be increased to approximately 120 whilst still strictly observing conservational requirements. This is thanks, among other things, to the ultramodern air-conditioning system in the ‘walk-in safe’, which has shown itself to meet the very highest requirements. The acceptable number of visitors could only be determined exactly once the museum was in operation. These additional tickets have been and are being given out at the ticket office.

Whether they are from the USA, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan, Chile, Columbia, Russia or the Member States of the European Union – to name just a few examples – there is hardly a country from which the Grünes Gewölbe has not yet had a visitor, as evidenced by the countless entries in the visitors’ books. The worldwide coverage made a decisive contribution to enhancing the renown of the collection. “Wonderful, breathtaking. Highlight of my trip to Germany” or “... The experience cannot be put into words” – to cite just two entries which can certainly be considered representative. There is also a long list of guests of honour and prominent figures from the worlds of politics, culture, business and sport who have visited the Grünes Gewölbe since its opening by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and Saxon Prime Minister Georg Milbradt.

Prof. Dr. Martin Roth, Director General of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, sees the positive response as honouring the highly skilled work of the many people involved: “The Grünes Gewölbe has now become synonymous with Dresden. The overwhelming acclaim is the best way of thanking the curators of historical monuments, the craftsmen, builders, restorers, art historians and not least the Director of the Grünes Gewölbe, Prof. Dr. Dirk Syndram and his team, for their outstanding efforts over years and decades in working to bring about the return of the Grünes Gewölbes. The public response is also a triumph for the art-loving Elector and King, August the Strong, whose brilliant idea of creating the Grünes Gewölbe has lost nothing of its fascination and allurement even 280 years after its original realisation.”

The Neues Grünes Gewölbe (New Green Vault), which was opened in 2004 on the first floor of the Residenzschloss (Palace) and may be described as the complement to the Historisches Grünes Gewölbe, is also as popular as ever. So far, 1,640,000 visitors have viewed the Neues Grünes Gewölbe.

The further development of the Dresden Residenzschloss into one of the most important museum complexes in Europe is going on apace. The overall concept for the Palace drawn up by Director General Prof. Dr. Martin Roth and Prof. Dr. Dirk Syndram, who has also been functioning as Director of the Rüstkammer (Armoury) since December 2006, includes the installation of the “Türckische Cammer” (Turkish Chamber) on the second floor. Its opening in 2009 will mark the next stage on the way to completing the Residenzschloss as a centre of art and culture.

Established in the 17th century, the “Türckische Cammer” housed precious oriental and oriental-style weapons, garments and tents which came into the Rüstkammer collection as diplomatic gifts, booty items or purchases between the 16th and the 19th century. Visitors to this unique exhibition will immediately encounter a dramatic group of five life-size sculpted horses adorned with Ottoman saddles, harnesses and caparisons. A large Ottoman state tent, which exemplifies the splendour of the ‘Zeithainer Lager’, an impressive military show put on by August the Strong in 1730, will dominate the Long Hall. Presented in a darkened room – as if under a clear night sky – and lit up only inside, it will take visitors on a journey into the culture of the Ottoman Empire, casting their minds back to the time of the Turkish Wars and the fashion of ‘turquerie’, and reflecting the respect and admiration of the Saxon Electors for the oriental world.

This outstanding section of the Rüstkammer will be a separate exhibition, but in future years visitors will also be able to see it as the culmination of a tour of the Rüstkammer as a whole, which will begin on the English Staircase. The Riesensaal (Grand Hall), a room of breath-taking dimensions, will provide a suitable setting for the exhibition about the tournament, where there will be three large groups depicting tournament scenes which will take up the entire first section of the room. A large series of suits of armour manufactured by the Augsburg armourer Anton Peffenhauser, as well as splendid ceremonial suits of armour with the famous Libaerts Armour in the middle will adorn the central part of the room. At the end of the Riesensaal dark-coloured field armours will signify the serious side of combat and serve as a reminder of the Thirty Years War. Leading off to the right, in the Georgenbau, will be the Silbersaal (Silver Hall) and the Münzkabinett (Coin Cabinet). In the northern wing to the left, a display is planned on the subject of the courtly hu