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Royality

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The castle of Moritzburg near Radebeul, which Augustus converted into a summer and hunting residence, is famous for its Feather Room, designed with two million feathers. The port area and lighthouse in the castle park were used for miniature sea battles. The stallion parade of the stud farm at Moritzburg, held on the first weekend in September, features sixteen stallions in procession, more than the Queen of England can muster. Augustus built the Taschenberg Palace for Countess Cosel next to the castle in Dresden. Next to it he constructed the Zwinger, an incomparable site of lavish entertainments that exemplified the reigning Absolutism of that time. To be named King of Poland, symbolized by the Crown of  Poland on the Crown Gate of the Zwinger, Augustus left Countess Cosel for a Polish mistress. The "Procession of Princes" in Augustus Street depicts Augustus and 34 other Wettin rulers. If you cross the Augustus Bridge, you will meet him as the "Golden Rider" surveying the Baroque New Town, which he built as a replacement for the town of Altendresden that had burned down. Downriver is the elegant and exotic Pillnitz Castle, on land that had belonged to Countess Cosel before she fell from favor. Near Pirna is the Baroque garden at Grosssedlitz. This is where Augustus intended to build a Saxon Versailles. After three years funds ran out, and of all the planned buildings, only the Lower Orangerie was completed as originally intended. To the north is Stolpen Castle. It was here in St John's Tower that the Countess Cosel was imprisoned, after she had been handed over to Augustus by the King of Prussia. She died there after 49 years. Augustus himself had already died in 1733 and been buried in Krakow. But his heart lies in Dresden's Court Church. And his alleged 365 children, including three with Countess Cosel, would ensure the survival of the Wettin dynasty.



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