What to See in Dessau - Top Sights and Attractions

Discover 35 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Dessau (Germany). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Bauhaus Museum Dessau, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, and Kurt-Weill-Zentrum. Also, be sure to include Anhaltisches Theater in your itinerary.

Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Dessau (Saxony-Anhalt).

Bauhaus Museum Dessau

Museum in Dessau-Roßlau, Germany. The Bauhaus Museum Dessau is a museum dedicated to the Bauhaus design movement located in Dessau, Germany. The museum's collection of 49,000 is the second-largest collection of Bauhaus-related objects in the world. Opened in 2019, it is operated by the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation.

The museum's building was designed by the Spanish architecture firm Addenda Architects. Its lower atrium floor houses temporary exhibitions, while the upper floor is devoted to the permanent collection.^[1]

Address: Mies-van-der-Rohe-Platz 1, Dessau

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Bauhaus Dessau Foundation

Nonprofit. The Bauhaus Dessau Foundation is a nonprofit foundation devoted to research and teaching in the field of experimental design. Based in the historical Bauhaus Building in Dessau-Roßlau, it was founded by the German Federal Government, the state of Saxony-Anhalt and the town Dessau in 1994. Its staff includes architects, town planners, sociologists, cultural scientists, artists and art historians.^[2]

Address: 34 Gropiusallee, Dessau

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Kurt-Weill-Zentrum

The Kurt Weill Centre is a cultural site in Dessau, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is a museum and information centre about the life and work of the composer Kurt Weill, who was born in Dessau.^[3]

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Anhaltisches Theater

Anhaltisches Theater Dessau is a theatre in Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, which was called Landestheater Dessau until 1984. It is Mehrspartentheater offering drama, musical theatre, ballets, concerts of the Anhaltische Philharmonie orchestra, and puppetry.

Today, the theatre has a capacity of around 1100 spectators and is equipped with one of the largest revolving stages in Germany. In October 2013, the theatre was included as endangered in the Rote Liste Kultur of the Deutscher Kulturrat.^[4]

Address: Friedensplatz 1a, Dessau

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Luisium

Historical landmark in Dessau-Roßlau, Germany. Luisium is a palace and landscape garden in Dessau-Roßlau, Germany. It is a part of Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 1774 work started on a small palace in the style of an English country house, which Leopold III, Duke of Anhalt-Dessau built for his wife Margravine Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt, thus the name Luisium.^[5]

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Dessau Zoo

Also known as: Tierpark Dessau

Zoo in Dessau-Roßlau, Germany. The Dessau Zoo is a municipally owned zoo in Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany which was founded in 1958. It is located in a park that surrounds the former mausoleum of the Dukes of Anhalt.

About 500 animals from 120 species are visited by around 100,000 guests per year.

Most of the animals are of European origin, like wolves, goats and donkeys but the zoo also shows exotic species like kangaroos, llamas and jaguars.

In the terrarium lives europes oldest reticulated python, almost 7 meters long.^[6]

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Georgium

Park in Dessau-Roßlau, Germany — wikipedia / M_H.DE / CC BY 3.0

Landscaped park with a historical palace. The Georgium is a princely palace in Dessau, Germany. It was built for Johann Georg von Anhalt-Dessau, younger brother of Leopold III, Duke of Anhalt-Dessau. It now houses the Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie art gallery.^[7]

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Johannbau

History museum, Forts and castles, Museum

Address: Schlossplatz 3a, 06844 Dessau

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Museum für Naturkunde und Vorgeschichte

Museum

Address: 32 Askanische Straße, Dessau

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Direktorenhaus Gropius

Museum

Address: 59 Ebertallee, Dessau

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Bauhaus-Architektur: Arbeitsamt von W. Gropius

Historical place

Address: August-Bebel-Platz 16, 06842 Dessau

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Meisterhaus Moholy-Nagy/Feininger

Museum

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City park

Also known as: Stadtpark

Relax in park, Park

Address: Willy-Lohmann Straße 14 d, Dessau

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Meisterhaus Muche/Schlemmer

Museum

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Bauhaus-Architektur: Laubenganghaus

Historical landmark in Dessau-Roßlau, Germany. Bauhaus Dessau, also Bauhaus-Building Dessau, is a building-complex in Dessau-Roßlau. It is considered the pinnacle of pre-war modern design in Europe and originated out of the dissolution of the Weimar School and the move by local politicians to reconcile the city's industrial character with its cultural past.

The building was constructed between 1925 and 1926 according to plans by Walter Gropius as a school building for the Bauhaus School of Art, Design and Architecture. The building itself and the Masters' Houses that were built in the immediate vicinity established the reputation of the Bauhaus as an "icon of modernism".

War-damaged and structurally altered sections were largely reconstructed from 1965 onwards in the spirit of the original. The building was restored and partially modernized in 1976. Between 1996 and 2006, the building was restored and repaired in accordance with the principles of historical preservation.

Since 1996, the building complex has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar, Dessau and Bernau, which also includes the Haus am Horn, the art school building and the main building of the Bauhaus University in Weimar, the Masters' Houses in Dessau, and since 2017, the Laubenganghäuser there as well as the ADGB Trade Union School in Bernau.

Between 1925 and 1932, various other buildings by Bauhaus architects were also constructed in Dessau, including the Törten housing estate, the employment office and the Kornhaus restaurant.^[8]

Address: 40 Peterholzstraße, Dessau

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Meisterhaus Kandinsky/Klee

Museum

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Wallwitzburg

Wallwitzburg is a miniature castle built towards the end of the 18th century in the form of a medieval castle ruin. The artificial ruin is located in the Beckerbruch of the Georgium Landscape Park in the Ziebigk district of Dessau-Roßlau.

As part of the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Kingdom, the monument located on the Wallwitzberg (about 75 m above sea level) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The landmark was once visible in particular from the Elbe and from the Chaussee in the direction of Roßlau.

Address: Am Peisker 1, Dessau

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