Dresden

Travelling from Berlin to Prague, I stopped at Dresden for a few hours. Dresden was the capital of Saxony and home to the Kings and Electors of Saxony. The fire-bombing by Allied Forces (1945) reduced the city to almost nothing and then on the back of this was 40 years of East German rule. A great deal of rebuilding has taken place, and recently, the Dresden Frauenkirche was completed in 2005 (on the eve of Dresden's 800th birthday).


The reconstructed buildings along the riverfront.

The Art Gallery.

The townhall. As with the Frauenkirche, I think the dark stones are the originals and the lighter ones new stone to complete the reconstruction.


Martin Luther Statue outside the Frauenkirche.

The Frauenkirche - reconstructed from the rubble left from the bombing in 1945. The original stone are the dark stones - so there wasn't much left!


From Wikipedia:

As far as possible, the church – except for its dome – was rebuilt using original material and plans, with the help of modern technology. The heap of rubble was documented and carried off stone by stone. The approximate original position of each stone could be determined from its position in the heap. Every usable piece was measured and catalogued. A computer imaging program that could move the stones three-dimensionally around the screen in various configurations was used to help architects find where the original stones sat and how they fit together.

Of the millions of stones used in the rebuilding, more than 8,500 original stones were salvaged from the original church and approximately 3,800 reused in the reconstruction. As the older stones are covered with a darker, due to fire damage and weathering, the difference between old and new stones will be clearly visible for a number of years after reconstruction.

Inside the Frauenkirche (a concert was about to be performed)


The Fürstenzug — the Saxon sovereigns walk.

Close up of The Fürstenzug.