Dresden is the capital city of the German federal state of Saxony, is situated in a valley on the river Elbe. The city’s population stood at 480,347 in December 2004 and the total population in its agglomeration was approximately 800,000. Dresden is part of a metropolitan area called Saxon triangle with a population of about 3.2 million. The city today functions as an important cultural, political, and economic center in Germany.
