Dresden had been the
target of controversial air raids by both the RAF and the US Army Airforce in which the whole city center was destroyed in a
resulting fire storm. The raids were controversial because they took place only 12 weeks before Germany surrendered, and
only targeted the cultural center in the old town. Dresden was both a transportation and industrial center, but these
area were not in the city center and were not targeted. Some believe that the raids were meant simply to punish, and not substantially
affect the city's participation in the war. After the war, and until the reunification of Germany in 1992, Dresden was
controlled at first by the Soviet forces and then by the
German Democratic Republic. Neither has a reputation for encouraging
economic recovery and rebuilding that had to be done in that tortured city.
It was therefore quite surprising to us to
see what Dresden looks like today. The old city center looked to us to be what it must have looked like when
Augustus II (Augustus
the Strong) lived there in 1700. The Elbe River waterfront is grandly decked out with large buildings that look like palaces,
there is a large medieval looking city gate and many of the buildings within are large brownstone
baroque structures that look
much older than they are. The brown stone is darker than it should be, probably as a result of the acid rain that originates
in the industrial areas to the east.
Three buildings are worth mentioning, the
Zwinger Palace, precursers of which have been
home to royal families since the 1400's, the
Semper Opera House (seen in the photo on the right) , and the
Kreuzekirche (Cross Church).
All three are large brownstone baroque structures.
The Zwinger consists of several palatial structures with an attached
wall enclosing a large open space. The entrance gate through this wall is capped, appropriately in bygone eras, by a large ornate
crown. by a is large structure. Construction was started by Augustus the Strong who wanted something as grand
as Versailles, into which the Sun King, Louis XIV had recently had moved his court. We are not sure Augustus succeeded equalling
the grandeur of Louis' Palace, but it is very grand, and well tended today.
The Opera House looks like it did when it was first
constructed in 1841, even though it was reconstructed twice, once in 1869 when it was destroyed by fire, and again in 1985 after it
was totally destroyed in the allied bombing near the end of WW II.
Kreuzekirche is a gothic structure, the oldest church in Dresden,
Protestant since 1539, rebuilt many times, the last 10 years after it was destroyed in WW II.
Continued................
