The Zwinger (begun 1709 and completed 1719) was commissioned by Augustus II, king of Poland and elector of Saxony, as a place for entertainments, tournaments, and royal festivities. Architect Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann (Pöppelmann, Matthäus Daniel) designed the gardens and the Baroque structure, working with the sculptor Balthasar Permoser. The Zwinger—whose name refers to the space between concentric rings of city fortifications—continued to be a work in progress through the 19th century, when the Zwinger Pond was installed in the interior garden and the structure expanded to include a fourth wing along the Elbe River. This addition, originally designed as a separate museum, is known as the Semper building, after its architect, Gottfried Semper (Semper, Gottfried). The Semper is decorated with the carvings of Dresden sculptor Ernst Rietschel, and at its completion the Zwinger took on its status as a museum. The Zwinger itself was almost completely destroyed during World War II, by which time its contents had already been removed. It was rebuilt in its original style.

Today the Zwinger contains several museums, notably the Old Masters Picture Gallery (Gemäldegalerie Alter Meister), with more than 700 Old Master paintings; the Porcelain Collection, an assembly of some 20,000 pieces of Chinese, Japanese, and Meissen porcelain objects; and the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon, with various historical scientific appurtenances, including measuring and cartographic devices and optical equipment. Highlights of the art collection are a group of Italian Renaissance works by Raphael, Giorgione, and Titian and paintings by Dutch masters Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer (Vermeer, Johannes).