The residence of the Saxon electors and kings has brought forth important architectural gems for centuries. This is seen most clearly today in the Dresden Palace, for example, which presents traces of practically every style period of European architecture. Nevertheless, the contemporary fame of Dresden's architecture is founded on its Baroque buildings. As Kings of Poland, Augustus the Strong and his son had Dresden transformed into one of the most exquisite royal residences in Europe. Impressive testimonies to the Baroque period are today the Zwinger by Pöppelmann and Permoser, the Blockhaus, the Taschenberg Palais and George Bähr's Frauenkirche church. The Classicist years represented a second important zenith for the City's development with the art gallery and opera house by Gottfried Semper and Schinkel's guardhouse on Theaterplatz square.
The rapid growth of the City from the second half of the 19th century was not only a period of important technical and urban planning achievements, but also added further outstanding buildings into the Dresden townscape. The City was thus able to maintain its already famous townscape, while at the same time introducing innovative architecture. Hans Erlwein, for example, created a series of pioneering municipal buildings, and the district of Hellerau was the first "garden town" in Germany. The severe destruction at the end of the Second World War robbed Dresden of many of its architectural monuments. In the meantime, however, endlessly painstaking work, under the supervision of committed and expert monument curators, has succeeded in restoring the City's reputation as a pearl of European architecture.
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