DessauSights

Sights in Dessau

  1. Haus Muche/Schlemmer

    The Haus Muche/Schlemmer makes it apparent that the room proportions and some of the experiments, such as low balcony rails, don't really cut it in the modern world. At the same time, you also realise how startlingly innovative other features are. The partially black bedroom here is also intriguing; look out for the leaflet explaining the amusing story behind it - Marcel Breuer apparently burst in to paint it when reluctant owner Georg Muche was away on business.

    reviewed

  2. Stahlhaus

    The Stahlhaus is home to a Bauhaus information centre where you can pick up an English-language pamphlet describing the architecture or join a German-language tour. These take you inside one of Hannes Meyer's red-brick, exterior walkway-access apartment buildings (the so-called Laubenganghäuser ) as well as to the Konsumgebäude (co-op building, still the site of a communal shop).

    reviewed

  3. Umweltbundesamt

    In 2005 Dessau confirmed its reputation as an architectural trailblazer with the opening of the eye-catching new digs of the Umweltbundesamt. Built using the latest ecological technologies, its coloured and textured facade makes a striking sight as your train pulls into town. Public art graces the parklike outdoor areas, while the lofty, light-flooded forum is open to visitors.

    reviewed

  4. Kurt-Weill-Zentrum

    Haus Feininger, former home of Lyonel Feininger, now pays homage to another German icon with the Kurt-Weill-Zentrum. There's a room devoted to Dessau-born Weill, who later became playwright Bertolt Brecht's musical collaborator in Berlin, and composed The Threepenny Opera and its hit 'Mack the Knife'.

    reviewed

  5. Meisterhäuser

    On leafy Ebertallee, a 15-minute walk west of the Hauptbahnhof, the three remaining Meisterhäuser line up for inspection. The leading lights of the Bauhaus movement lived together as neighbours in these white cubist structures that exemplify the Bauhaus aim of 'design for living' in a modern industrial world.

    reviewed

  6. Bauhausgebäude

    Across the world, many modernist masterpieces have fallen into ruin and, for a while, it looked as though a similar fate might befall the seminal Bauhausgebäude. Fortunately, major restoration, completed in 2006, successfully staved off the wrecking ball.

    reviewed

  7. Haus Kandinsky/Klee

    The Haus Kandinsky/Klee is most notable for the varying pastel shades in which Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee painted their walls (re-created today). There's also biographical information about the two artists and special exhibitions about their work.

    reviewed

  8. Anhaltisches Theater Dessau

    The Anhaltisches Theater Dessau is a rather pompous neo-Roman structure that was commissioned by the Nazis and is at odds with most of the town's architecture, whether it be Bauhaus or GDR.

    reviewed

  9. Technikmuseum Hugo Junkers

    Aviation fans will be wowed by the vintage aircraft at the Technikmuseum Hugo Junkers. Tram 1 goes straight to the museum (get off at Junkerspark) from the Hauptbahnhof.

    reviewed

  10. Moses-Mendelssohn-Zentrum

    The Moses-Mendelssohn-Zentrum tracks the life and accomplishments of the Dessau-born humanist philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, the godfather of the Jewish Enlightenment.

    reviewed

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