Fürstenbergsches Haus

The Fürstenbergsche Haus was a 16th-century palace in Dresden, standing at the corner of Schloßplatz and Augustusstraße. Its original two-storey design featured a grand hall and gabled roofs. In the 17th century, an oriel window was added, supported by two Tuscan columns. The palace became home to figures like Giovanni Maria Nosseni and later served as a residence for Johann Georg IV’s lover, Magdalena Sibylla von Neitschütz. After her death, the elector gave it to Anton Egon Fürstenberg, whose name it took. The alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger worked in its cellar-turned-laboratory, and mathematician Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus died there in 1708. By the 18th century, the building had new owners, including Count Aleksander Józef Sułkowski and Count Heinrich von Brühl. From 1768 to 1786, it housed the Academy of Fine Arts after Christian Friedrich Exner added a third storey and removed the gables. The academy provided living quarters for professors. Later, it became the seat of the Secret Finance Council and then the Ministry of Finance in 1838, expanding into the neighbouring Charonsche Haus. The palace was demolished in 1894 to make way for the Saxon State Parliament building. Its final years were spent as the Finance Ministry, linked to the Charonsche Haus, which dated from 1720. Though long gone, the Fürstenbergsche Haus was once a centre of art, science and government in Dresden. Its story reflects the city’s shifting power and culture over three centuries.