Museum of Arts and Crafts

The Dresden Museum of Arts and Crafts was established in 1876 as a collection of excellent craft works, attached to the School of Arts and Crafts that had been founded the previous year. The purpose of the collection was to display examples of craftsmanship in order to broaden the knowledge and experience of those engaged in the crafts. Both the school and the collection moved into a new complex of buildings in Güntzstrasse in 1907, where the collection took on the character of a museum of art history.

Since 1963, its treasures have been displayed in the two sections of Pillnitz Palace ('Schloss Pillnitz') known as 'Bergpalais' and 'Wasserpalais'. All forms of applied art from the Gothic era to the present day are shown in a manner in keeping with the Baroque interiors. The objects include furniture of the court and the bourgeoisie, Augsburg and Dresden silver, tapestries, leatherwork, carvings, tin, copper, bronze, cast iron, wrought iron and modern industrial design. Among the 20th-century objects, attention should be drawn to the products of the German Crafts League ('Deutscher Werkbund'), especially the large collection of furniture by Richard Riemerschmid from the German Crafts Workshop in Dresden-Hellerau.

The exhibition includes contemporary trends in design. As well as the permanent exhibition, a wide range of special exhibitions are held.