Golden Rider

The Golden Rider is a gilded, copper equestrian statue of Augustus the Strong, dressed in Roman armor and riding toward the north. He sits atop a tall, sandstone pedestal on the Neustädter Markt. While Augustus ruled as Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, this statue portrays him as a Roman emperor. During the Second World War, workers dismantled the monument and hid the pieces in a rural cellar. They returned it to this spot in nineteen fifty-six, marking the city's slow recovery.