Other sights in Saxony
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Schloss Colditz
High on a crag above the sleepy town of Colditz, some 46km southeast of Leipzig, is the imposing Schloss Colditz, a Renaissance palace that's seen stints as a hunting lodge, a poorhouse and a mental hospital. Mostly, though, it's famous as Oflag IVC, a WWII-era high-security prison for Allied officers, including a nephew of Winston Churchill. Most astounding, perhaps, is a 44m-long tunnel below the chapel that French officers dug in 1941-42, before the Germans caught them. You can see some of these contraptions, along with lots of photographs, in the small but fascinating Fluchtmuseum (Escape Museum) within the palace. Several inmates wrote down their experiences later, o…
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Karl-May-Museum
Karl-May-Museum is essentially a tribute to Germany's greatest adventure writer. Though virtually unknown in the English-speaking world, May's rousing tales have sold over 100 million copies worldwide and for generations shaped the image of the American Wild West and the Near East in central European minds. Villa Shatterhand charts his life and work, while Villa Bärenfett has a highly rated exhibition on Native Americans.
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Dom St Marien
West of the Schumann-Haus, Dom St Marien is a late-Gothic hall church that will quicken the pulse of art fans. Foremost among its treasures is the 1479 altar painting by Michael Wohlgemuth (a teacher of Albrecht Dürer) plus an emotionally charged pietà (1502) by famous local sculptor Peter Breuer, and some ultra-rare Protestant confessionals. For details, ask to borrow the English pamphlet.
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Schloss Weesenstein
A magnificent sight, high above the Müglitz River, Schloss Weesenstein is one of the most undervisited and untouched palaces in Germany. In an amazing alchemy of styles, it blends its medieval roots with later Renaissance and baroque embellishments. This results in an architectural curiosity where the horse stables somehow ended up above a much younger residential tract.
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Zeitreise Lebensart DDR 1949-1989
Zeitreise Lebensart DDR 1949-1989 provides a fascinating glimpse into daily life in the GDR. The four long floors are crammed with four decades' worth of socialist- era flotsam and jetsam, including a fleet of Trabis, ingenious self-contained camping units, plus tonnes of toys, toasters, televisions and other nostalgia-inducing trinkets.
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Stasi Museum
The chilling Stasi Museum is in the former headqurters of the East German secret police, a building known as Runde Ecke (round corner). Exhibits in the museum, including a detention cell for keeping 'hostile negative elements', illustrate how bizarre the Stasi spooks became before the whole thing fell apart in 1989.
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Schloss Moritzburg
The rich interior boasts ornate leather wall coverings, paintings, furniture and the recently restored Federzimmer (Feather Room), featuring August's fanciful bed. An English- language audioguide (€2) is available from the ticket booth. The palace parkland is ideal for drifting around.
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Porzellan-Museum
There's no 'quiet time' to arrive at the understandably popular and utterly unmissable Porzellan-Museum, but it's worth braving the crush (and the waiting) to witness the astonishing artistry and craftsmanship that makes Meissen porcelain truly unique.
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Zoo
If you can stomach the hefty admission, Leipzig's zoo, has lots of rare species, plus perennial crowd-pleasers such as tigers, lions and gorillas. The new Gondwanaland tropical species hall has been a highlight since 2009. Take tram 12.
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Museum der Bildenden Künste
An edgy glass cube is the home of the Museum der Bildenden Künste, which has a well-respected collection of paintings from the 15th century to today, including works by Caspar David Friedrich, Lucas Cranach the Younger and Claude Monet.
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Magnikirche
Don't miss this arty precinct-cum-traditional quarter around the 11th-century Magnikirche. Restaurants and bars have colonised the area's many restored half-timbered houses and there are some great boutique stores.
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Castle
Heinrich's former castle is now a museum. It houses a glittering medieval collection, including golden sculptures of arms, medieval capes and the original bronze lion statue cast in 1166.
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Museum für Angewandte Kunst
The Museum für Angewandte Kunst is the second oldest in Germany and has one of the finest collections of art-nouveau and art-deco furniture, porcelain, glass and ceramics in the country.
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Kunstgewerbemuseum
The Wasserpalais and the Bergpalais house the Kunstgewerbemuseum, which is filled with fancy furniture and objects from the Saxon court, including Augustus the Strong's throne.
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Johannisbad
A 10-minute walk north of the Altstadt, the spectacular Johannisbad is a beautiful old art- nouveau swimming pool and sauna complex - worth a look even without taking a dip.
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Pleasure palace
Baroque has gone exotic at this pleasure palace, festooned with fanciful Chinese flourishes. This is where the Saxon rulers once lived it up during long hot Dresden summers.
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Frauenkirche
The Gothic Frauenkirche is the world's oldest made from porcelain; it chimes a different ditty six times daily. Climb the tower for fine red-roof views of the Altstadt.
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Bach-Museum
Opposite the Thomaskirche, the Bach-Museum was receiving a comprehensive refit at the time of writing, but should be back in summer 2010.
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Serbski Dom
Slavophiles should head for the Serbski Dom with heaps of information on Sorb-related events, a free exhibition and souvenir shop.
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Museum für Völkerkunde
The Dresden's Museum für Völkerkunde boasts well over 70,000 anthropological items from far-flung corners of the world.
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Schlossmuseum
To learn more about the history of the Pleasure palace and life at court, visit the Schlossmuseum in the Neues Palais.
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Stadtgeschichtliches Museum
The Stadtgeschichtliches Museum, found in the Altes Rathaus, chronicles the twists and turns of Leipzig's history.
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Dom
Dom is a Gothic masterpiece with medieval stained-glass windows and delicately carved statues in the choir.
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