Albertinum, Dresden

The Albertinum is a fine arts museum in Dresden that was named after the Saxon King, Albert. The Saxon Elector, August the Strong collected paintings, graphics, coins and sculpture and his collection formed the basis of the exhibits at the museum.

The Albertinum was built between 1884 and 1887 by Carl Adolf Canzler. The museum was to serve as a repository and archive or art and sculpture. The building was damaged by the bombings on 1945 and rebuilt in 1953. The Albertinum was closed again in 2004 because of damage caused by the flooding of the River Elbe. 40 German contemporary artists worked to raise the money for restoration of the building by auctioning their famous works and the result was a flood proof construction with a modern courtyard retaining the original façade.

The Albertinum has four major collections. The coin collection has over 20000 coins, medals, seals and seal impressions. Many of the coins and medals are minted in Saxony. The upper floors have paintings by old and modern masters. The gallery of the old masters has works of the Roamntic, Biedermeier and Realist periods. Many modern works were withdrawn and sold by the Nazis but the museum has acquired an impressive collection after the war. The print cabinet has over 180,000 sheets of graphic and watercolors by European artists dating back to the 15th century and the museum has a vast sculpture collection including the marble reproductions of the Lemnian Athena by Adolf Furtwangler.