The Dresden Zwinger is a Baroque style palace complex in Dresden, Germany, designed by Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann. It was built between 1710 and 1728, and boasts impressive pavilions and galleries lined with balustrades, figures, and vases arranged around formal gardens. The palace became one of the most important buildings of the Baroque period in Germany, along with the Frauenkirche. Following its destruction in 1945 due to carpet bombing raids, it was re-constructed and today houses the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, the Dresden Porcelain Collection, and the Royal Cabinet of Mathematical and Physical Instruments. The city’s original defensive walls were re-purposed for the palace's grand designs, making it a living example of how past glories can continually be adapted and appreciated in new ways.