Zwinger Palace

The Zwinger Palace is where you will concentrate much of your sightseeing. Just to walk into the enormous courtyard, which seems the size of multiple football fields, is awesome. Surrounding this lovely garden courtyard is the palace, which contains a mind-boggling assortment of museums. The *Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Gallery), full of magnificent paintings by Canaletto, Raphael, Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and many other famous artists, is world renowned. (10 am–6 pm, closed Mondays.) Your gallery ticket gives you entrance to the adjacent Rüstkammer Museum with its displays of ancient military hardware. (10 am–6 pm, closed Mondays.) The Porzellansammlung (Porcelain Museum—entrance on Sophienstrasse) houses an important collection of Meissen, Japanese, and Chinese porcelain. (10 am–6 pm, closed Thursdays.) The Wallpavillion houses the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon (Salon of Mathematics and Physics) with its collection of mathematical and measuring instruments (it has lots of barometers, thermometers, and clocks). (9:30 am–5 pm, closed Thursdays.)