The Duchy of Saxony

[Garant 1]

Introduction

Hello and welcome into my 2nd CJ.  I hope you will forgive the failure of my first CJ wich was simply too embitious.  This one will feature a completly different region, with a medium-sized city.

It will be inspirated by the region of Saxony in Germany, and its capital Dresden.  I visited those places in May during a travel and I loved them.  However, remember that this will be only inspirated by those real-life locations.  Even if some real names and some buildings may apear, this CJ will take place in a completly different world, where history went very differently.

Please also forget the 'historical' backgroud.  I am studying in this domain and thus it was an inspiration for the setting of this CJ.  If you are really not interested into reading the 'historical' part, the most important things to understand is that this CJ will feature the capital of an independent country in Germany.

Also note that I'm not a German, so if some German names are not  perfectly spellend don't take it bad.

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Prologue- a different world

This world as you will soon discover is very different from the one you know.  The industrial revolution is only 100 years old, and thus many aspects of the society may apear as more 'primitive'- there is no nuclear energy, nor solar or anything like that.  Highways are very rare and only the largest metropolis of this world have enough cars to justify such a luxury.  Civilian aviation still have to take wings, airplanes are still considerated as dangerous and peoples mostly rely on Zepplin-style airships.  The architecture is also more 'old-looking' and skyscrapers are an innovation.

Politically, the world is also very different.  Europe is still filled with monarchies and constitutionalism is only begining to gain power.  Germany, the region that interests us the most in this story is divided into hundreds of small kingdom, duchies, archduchies, counties, bishoprics, principalities and free cities.  All this mess being federated into an institution called the 'Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation', wich, despite its pompous name, is not Holy, nor Roman or Imperial.  The title of Emperor is mostly honorific and is granted by a group of 6 'Electors', rulers of the most powerfull states within the Empire.

A map of the Empire by 2008.  The electors (from right to left) are:

The Kingdom of Burgundy (dark red)

The Electorate of Palatinate (teal)

The Kingdom of Bavaria (light blue)

The Duchy of Saxony (green)

The Margraviate of Brandenburg (grey)

The Kingdom of Bohemia (brown)

                                     The flag of the Duchy of Saxony

In July the newly proclaimed Emperor, wich was duke of Saxony, died.  As the power pass to his son, the Duchy of Saxony is about to double his size via a very complicated network of alliances and dynastic unions.

As the size and power of the Duchy is growing its capital, Dresden, will have to deal wth its increasing importance.  This will be the main point of this CJ- to carefuly plan the grow of the old city by preserving its historical districts.

Dresden

The old capital of the Duchy was founded in the early 1200's.  In 1485, it became the seat of the dukes and electors of Saxony.

Famous trough the entire continent for his exceptional art collection, the city is build in a Baroque/Neoclassical/Renaissance/Medieval mix.  The Medieval and Rennaisance buildings are mostly grouped in the 'old town' while Neoclassical and Baroque are dominating the 'new town'.

                             A typical street of Dresden

The largest building in the city is by far the Ducal Palace.  The Neoclassical structure was build in the late 1700's and remodeled in 1838.  Less impressive than the palaces in Paris, Bruxelles, Venice or Warsaw, it is still once of the finest residence in Germany and is the home of the Duke.

[Garant 1]

More pictures of the city will be posted later.

A big thanks to zelgadis wich very kindly accepted to make the flag an in-game object.


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[Mayorm 14]

Wow the political map is really detailed.

[Za 164]

Welcome to the world of CJs, my friend. Nice job with that history and the two pics. Looks promising

[Zelgadis 638]

Hee hee. You're welcome.

I see you got off to a quick start there. Looks like it's going to be interesting to watch!

ISF

[spore415 5]

nice start and use of german vocabulary!

[Schulmanator 5,793]

Very nice. I am glad to see a new type of city represented here.

[panthersimcity4 162]

I like that picture of the city, I've always been a fan of baroque architecture. Looking forward to more.

[TV-VCR 15]

Looks very german! Also, may I recommend the Euro Road texture mod? Just look it up on the stex.

Cheers.

[Garant 1]

*Need a fancy repply banner*

Repplies

Mayorm: It was even worse in the 1500's, but yes the political map of this region is very complex.

Za: Thank you.

zelgadis: I hope it will.

spore415: Thank you! I plan to study German soon so I just wanted to begin to familiarize with this language.

Schulmanator: Thank you!  Yes indeed I am trying to make different from the usuall skyscraper forest.

panthersimcity4: Then I hope you'll enjoy the next updates.

TV-VCR: I'm glad it look German, I put hours of research into various sites to find the best-looking stuff from this region.  However I passed by that road mod without noticing it, thanks for pointing me out its installed now.

[Simtastico 0]

great start! There should be more european cjs like this, so much history to tell.. I think you have a good mix of different angles on this cj, it is nice with both a zeitung, history and in-game pictures.. hope to see more of this!

[Garant 1]

Update 1: the different faces of Dresden

Every old city have alot to tell trough its architecture.  Every era gave a little something, ultimatly resulting in the mix of style that the Saxon capital is.  But this 'mix' is far from being chaotic- the city is divided in two districts, the 'Old Town', wich include everything located within what was once the fortifications of the city, and the 'New Town', wich is located east of the old city.  You can't find many neoclassical structures inside the Old Town, and medieval buildings outside it are very rare.  This way, even with its architectural diversity Dresden managed to keep a form of unity of styles.

Old Town

The Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), was build in the 1750's and is still today the most recognizable landmark of the city.  Its baroque dome dominate the entire old town.

On the other side of the Elbe river spread the best-preserved parts of the old town. Even if many buildings were rebuild later, most of them were constructed during the 1400's and the early 1500's

Two buildings are dominating this district: the old university (the big building with the green roof), wich is now a museum, and the St-Martin church.  The church was finished in 1250, and is the oldest building of the city.  The St-Martin is also often called 'Dresdner Dom' (Cathedral of Dresden) because it was the only church in the city for almost three centuries.  It is still the place where the dukes of Saxony are coronated.

  A closer view of St-Martin's tower

New Town

The National Parliament of Saxony.  The building was constructed in the 1880's as a part of the large construction project that gave the new town its actual look.

The construction of the new town begined in the 1860's when it became obvious that the room within the old fortifications was not enough.  4 large avenues were drawn, all of them meeting in front of the Ducal Palce (A map and a better overview of the geography of the city will be posted in the next update).  This ended up with a much less crowded city, with wide avenues and lot of parks.

A street of the New Town.  In the lower left corner, the begining of the Friedrich-Wilhelm bridge.

[Smarty218 2]

Excellent start! High quality work from what I can tell.

~TJ

[SirUnger 13]

WOW! That looks really cool. I

[Garant 1]

Simtastico: Thanks! Indeed I find there is potential in this kind of CJ.  I hope you will continue to enjoy this one.

Smarty218: Thank you very much.

SirUnger: I visited Dresden in may and I really loved it.  However, there is not enough Dresden buildings to recreate the real city, it would be so awesome to have the Semperoper and the Zwinger.. 

I am using your 'Saxony' region map by the way.

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[Mayorm 14]

I love your Newspaper it makes your city journal interactive

[penguin007 27]

Great start here some wonderful euro architecture and I cant wait to see more

Will

[jacqulina 162]

great start and intro my friend,allready looking very nice.

[Zelgadis 638]

Oh, it does indeed look quite german. Nice job.

ISF

[Rictiovarus 1]

Looks nice! But older European towns are usually a bit more dense than this.

[Simfan34 11]

This CJ looks fascinating.

[Garant 1]

Repplies

Mayorm: Glad you like it! Making it is fun, but its even better when I know its enjoyed.

penguin007: You'll see more very soon.

jacqulina: Thanks..

zelgadis: I did my best for it to look German, altrough I have only been in Germany for 5 days in my life.

Rictiovarus: You are right.  But with the buildings I have and the current raod layout (diagonal streets tend to waste more space = more room between buildings) I could not do much better.  I'll try to improve it.

Simfan34: Thank you! 

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I'm currently busy, I'll move into a new home tomorrow so I don't know if I'll be able to update regularly in the following days.  Thanks for understanding.

[Garant 1]

Update 2: Urban history of Dresden

As explained above, Dresden can be divided in two main districts- the 'new' and 'old' cities.

The Old City is very typical of many other old towns from all across Europe- a dense district that was once limited by walls.

The fortifications of Dresden were destroyed in the 1880's, as a part of the Great Works of Baron and urbanist von Brücke.  Instead, a large, vast and circular avenue was constructed.  The 'Ringstraße' (ring street) , as it was called, is still one of the main street today.

Von Brücke's Great Works also included the organization of the anarchically growing 'Oststadt' (east city), a suburb located eastward of the city fortifications.  5 large avenues were drawn, all of them meeting at the Säsische Platz (Saxon Place), just in front of the Ducal Palace. The newly inaugurated 'New City' was filled with important official buildings replacing the obsolete ones.

An aerial picture of Dresden, or the Saxon capital entirely revealed

(You have no ideas how complicated it was for me to make this horizontal mosaic)

Main Points of interest:

1- Frauenkirche (Church of our Lady)

2- Semperoper (Semper Opera)

3- Friedrich-Wilhelm Bridge

4- Ringstrasse

5- Financial district (an eyesore if you ask me)

6- Dresdner Kommerzbörse (Trade Stock Exchange of Dresden)

Not indicated by numers on the map:

Elbepark- that green area near the towers, but beyond the river

Buildings in the new city- refer to the map below:

A close-up of the 'New Town'

Buildings:

1- Parliament of Saxony

2- Staatsoper (state opera)

3- National Library/National Archives

4- Ministry of Defense

5- Ministry of Healt (south wing)/Ministry of Education (North Wing)

6- Ministry of Commerce, Industry & Devellopement

7- Ministry of Justice

8- Ducal Palace

9- Friedrichsäule (Frederic Colonum)

Road & Places:

10- Kurfürstendamm (Avenue of the Elector, refers to the title of the Duke)

11- Wagner Strasse (Wagner Street, refers to a great musical compositor)

12- Unter den Eichen (Under the Oaks Avenue, refers to oaks both sides of it)

13- Parkstrasse (Park Street, refers to the park at the end of it)

14- Bautzner Strasse (old main street, leading to the city of Bautzen)

15- Sächsische Plaz (Saxon Place)

[Garant 1]

As you can see, I have finished the city as it should looks like today.  But soon, thanks to its newly increased political influence (you need to read the history part and the newspapers to understand), Dresden will grow.  And it will begin to interact with other capitals if possible, and open foreign embassies on its soil.  Even if its a bit a cliché, if you want your nation to have a building in this city just ask.

[Simfan34 11]

The Kingdom of New Burgundy ( a wonderful place, do visit ) would like to open an embassy in Saxony.

[Schulmanator 5,793]

An excellent and well-planned city center in Dresden.

[anarchy0029 2]

This city was excellently planned beautifully. I am so amazed on how you did it.

[Simtastico 0]

oh, you are a busy one! Nice updates.. old town was awesome and it's always nice with an early overview pictures to understand how the city works and looks. Regional pic next time?

[jacqulina 162]

great planning and details my friend

[Garant 1]

Simfan34: as soon as I'll have the time for it, I'll build something.  Don't expect a vast modern building however, Dresden is still small.

Schulmanator: Thank you sir!

anarchy0029: Well, I don't know if its amazing or not.  However I know that the new districts will have similar designs.

Simtastico: I think a region view would be rather deceiving... for now.  I only have Dresden build, wich occupy a large city tile.  The rest of the 'city' is filled with farmlands, rivers, forests and smaller towns.

jacqulina: Thank you.

--

Two things I'd like to know: 

1. is there a mod/plugin/whatever that improve the diagonal streets? I'd love to have pavement instead of all those little grass triangles.

2. What about the 'leagues' or 'unions' of cities/countries?  What are their aims? Can Saxony enter one of thoses?  I am new here, don't know much.