The Yenidze is the most improbable building in Dresden: a tobacco factory from 1909 dressed up as an Ottoman mosque, complete with minarets, a stained-glass dome, and elaborate arabesque tilework. It stands just west of the old town near the main train station, close enough to be incongruous and far enough that many visitors never find it.
The story behind it is more interesting than the building itself. Hugo Zietz, owner of the Yenidze cigarette brand (named after a Turkish tobacco region), wanted to build in a prestigious location but faced planning restrictions on factory buildings. He hired architect Martin Hammitzsch to design something that looked nothing like a factory — and the gamble worked. The chimneys became minarets; the dome, lit at night in coloured glass, became a landmark. Workers inside were producing cigarettes while tourists outside assumed they were looking at a place of worship.
Today the building contains offices and, in the glass dome at the top, a restaurant where storytelling evenings take place on certain nights — something between a dinner and a theatrical performance, continuing the building's tradition of deliberate theatricality. Even if you don't go inside, the exterior is worth seeing, particularly at night when the dome is illuminated.