The Schlesischen Bahnhof was built between 1844 and 1847 under the direction and to the design of the Dresden architect Julius Köhler and was opened with its ground-level tracks along with the whole Dresden-Neustadt–Görlitz line on 1 September 1847. Designed as a combined road and railway bridge, the first Marienbrücke (the current road bridge) was already under construction, so the plans envisaged a through station, allowing a connection through the city to the planned station of the Saxon-Bohemian Railway Company. For the present, the southern end of the station only had one turntable to turn the locomotives. There were two laterally-arranged train sheds, with the departure hall facing Antonstraße and the arrivals hall on the opposite side.