Kunstgewerbemuseum Dresden

Current exhibitions

About the museum

The Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts) was founded in 1876 as a model collection for the Dresden School of Applied Arts. Craftsmen, designers and students were meant to learn from selected pieces what good form and careful handling of materials meant. From 1914, it operated as an independent museum and now arranged its holdings according to art-historical criteria.

World War II brought severe setbacks: numerous important objects were lost through destruction and theft, including precious tapestries and parts of the East Asian holdings. For a long time afterward, the museum had no exhibition rooms of its own, until it moved into Pillnitz Palace in 1963. The Wasserpalais (Water Palace) and Bergpalais (Hill Palace), built in the 1720s to designs by Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann in a Chinese-inspired style as a summer residence for the Saxon court, have framed the collection ever since.

Today, the collection comprises around 60,000 objects spanning about five centuries – furniture, textiles, musical instruments, vessels, clocks and much more from Europe, Asia and South America. The Bergpalais displays historic suites of rooms, along with a visible storage area with furniture by the Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau, which from 1900 produced modern, mass-manufactured furnishings near Dresden. The museum of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Dresden State Art Collections) increasingly sees itself as a venue for contemporary design and runs the Design Campus as a platform for research and exchange.

Due to preparations for structural upgrades to the Pillnitz buildings, the permanent exhibition is currently accessible only on Sunday guided tours and at events; the museum periodically shows exhibitions at other venues.

Highlights

• Visible storage with furniture by the Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau
• Historic interiors such as the Kaiserzimmer and Watteau-Saal in the Bergpalais
• Presentation "Gestaltung um 1800" with Neoclassical decorative arts
• Baroque palaces of Pillnitz Palace right on the Elbe River

Permanent exhibitions

• Die Sammlung des Kunstgewerbemuseums – Decorative arts and design from five centuries in the Bergpalais and Wasserpalais, including historic room furnishings and a visible storage area of the Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau; currently viewable only on a guided tour.
• Gestaltung um 1800 – Presentation in the Bergpalais on Neoclassical furniture, chandeliers and other decorative arts.

Founded

1876

Operated by

Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Director

Thomas A. Geisler

Admission & discounts

Prices apply to the one-hour Sunday guided tour "Design trifft Barock"; the ticket is valid only for participation in the tour. A separate ticket is required for a regular visit to Schloss & Park Pillnitz.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible: no information
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom: no information
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

Wheelchair users should report to the ticket desk in the Alte Wache (east entrance); staff will accompany them into the museum. The website provides no further accessibility information.

Kids & families

The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.

Getting there & parking

The meeting point for the Sunday tour is the ticket desk in the Alte Wache at the east entrance of Schloss Pillnitz.

Amenities & dining

The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Corporate events

Up to 120 guests.

Rentals via MSU Museen erleben GmbH: main hall in the Bergpalais (125 m², standing reception up to 120, theater seating 100, banquet 50 people) for dinners, receptions, lectures and concerts; May to October outside opening hours, can be combined with a museum visit.

Plan your visit