Dresden celebrates 250th birthday of Caspar David Friedrich with spectacular open-air spectacle

Men in tails and top hats, women in long gowns with hoods: hundreds of people celebrate the 250th birthday of the master of German Romanticism in the heart of Dresden on Thursday. The area on Neumarkt is filled with people who seem to have sprung from Romantic paintings. The city on the Elbe, where the draughtsman and painter Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) lived for over four decades, wants to win a bet with his native city of Greifswald on the Baltic coast. "It looks fantastic," enthused Dresden's Lord Mayor Dirk Hilbert at the start on the stage in front of the Frauenkirche. "The bet is so charming, you just had to accept it."

Greifswald challenges Dresden

Greifswald has challenged Dresden's adopted city in the Friedrich Year 2024. On the artist's birthday, the aim is to see who can bring more people dressed in the style of Romanticism to the city's central square. "We've been looking forward to this day for weeks," said Hilbert, who appeared in white trousers, a gold vest, wrap and top hat, with a walking stick and black silk scarf. The first glimpse of the competition made him feel positive. "It's already looking great here." By 7 p.m., the count was down to who was dressed in 19th century style.

Long queues formed at the counting stations in the afternoon heat: Women in long skirts with blouses and colorful shawls over their shoulders or ankle-length dresses, in hoods or hoods, men in classic vests, wide trousers, frock coats and whiskers like Friedrich wore, and girls in pleated skirts and blouses with neat bows in their hair.

Birthday cake and live jazz

And women in breezy summer dresses were also part of the open-air spectacle with a sun hat and band at the last-minute station. Dresden bakers cut a birthday cake baked with sea buckthorn from Friedrich's homeland and handed it out by the slice, while a live band played jazz. The wagers included a city tour of Greifswald for Elbe residents on a specific day and the invitation of three betting couples from the coastal city to the Dresden Semperoper Ball in 2025.

The former royal seat of Dresden was the center of the draughtsman and painter's life from 1798 until Friedrich's death in 1840. There he studied the paintings of the old masters in the picture gallery, took part in art debates, began to paint and created his main works. He also found motifs in the surrounding nature, for example on hikes in Saxon and Bohemian Switzerland, and composed them into his paintings - which are considered masterpieces of German Romanticism.