Gussy Hippold-Ahnert, Bathhouse at the Blue Miracle, 1935, Hygiene-Museum Dresden.

This small watercolour from the 1930s by Gussy Erika Hippold-Ahnert (1910-2003) depicts the Loschwitz Bridge, which was opened in 1893 and was nicknamed the “Blue Miracle”. Its metal construction without piles in the river was considered a great technical achievement and as such was much admired. The bridge soon became a dominant feature of Dresden, a city on the road to modernity.

At the foot of the bridge, the artist shows a bathhouse that was accessed by a small footbridge. Dresden was known for the emphasis it placed on public health. The Loschwitz Bridge connected the city to the district where, at the turn of the century, numerous sanatoria were built. Many great names from the world of art and politics stayed there, helping to forge a new image of Dresden as the capital of healthy living.

^{Sonia de Puineuf}