Jungfernbastei (1589-93)

The Jungfernbastei is a massive stone bastion rising above the Elbe River with walls nearly twenty feet thick. Built in the late sixteenth century, it served as a defensive anchor for Dresden’s fortifications. Its name comes from the nuns of the nearby convent, who once tended gardens on the site. When the Swedish army arrived in sixteen thirty-one during the Thirty Years War, they could not breach these walls. The bastion survived the heavy fighting, keeping the city inside secure through the conflict.