Coselpalais

Coselpalais is a Rococo palace in Dresden’s Innere Altstadt, beside the Frauenkirche and near Neumarkt. Its entrance portal stands between two wings surrounding a small courtyard. Sandstone pillars topped with sculptures of children add a distinctive detail beneath the two-storey wings.

Julius Heinrich Schwarze designed the building, named for Friedrich August Cosel. Construction began in 1762 and ended in 1764. It rose on the site of the Powder Tower, demolished in 1744. General Cosel never lived inside it. After serving as the Russian Hotel from 1845 to 1853, it became police headquarters until 1901. Later, it housed a state building office. The February 1945 bombings destroyed the entire complex. The side wings were rebuilt in the 1970s, and the main building followed in the late 1990s.

The reconstructed complex houses offices and two restaurants, including Grand Café & Restaurant and Pulverturm. Historical rooms include the Porcelain, Rose, Mirror and Bird rooms. The restored first-floor staircase and ballroom preserve another tangible trace of its earlier interior.

City: Dresden
Content updated: 2026-06-22

Image: Ronny Kreutel - KausalkettePublic domain
Image: Paul MebesPublic domain
Image: Matthias Hiekel CC BY-SA 3.0 de
Image: Jörg Blobelt CC BY-SA 4.0
Image: Jörg Blobelt CC BY-SA 4.0

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Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Dresden. In the app, each story begins where you stand: walk up to a spot and it starts, read it on screen or listen as you go, then follow the route to the next one.

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myTuur is a free city-guide app. Its tours are built from spots, and each spot carries a story that starts when you get there, to read or to listen to as you like.