A Stop-Over in Dresden

[Guest fountainhall]

I was in Dresden for 3 days earlier this week. At Rogie’s request, I attach some comments and a few photos.

 

As most will know, Dresden was one of the most beautiful of Europe’s cities, famed for it’s baroque architecture. Over 2 nights in February 1945, the Allies fire-bombed the city – for reasons that have already been discussed in the thread “A Strange and Curious History” in The Beer Bar. Suffice here to say that the city was all but totally destroyed. What survived the bombing succumbed to the heat of the flames.

 

Thankfully for future generations, some of the centre of the city has been rebuilt. Originally constructed in the early 1700s and featuring a dome that was an engineering feat comparable to Michelangelo’s for St. Peter’s in Rome, the Lutheran Church, the Frauenkirche with its statue of Luther outside, was reconstructed partly as an act of reconciliation. Architects in Germany and 20 other countries worked to identify and label each of the stones in the rubble. The Church was finally reopened in 2005. Symbolically, the orb and cross at the top of the dome were constructed in England by the son of a man who had taken part in the 1945 bombing.

 

The interior of the Church is one of the most glorious in Europe. The richly baroque style of the altar with its 4,800 pipe organ sitting atop makes for a stunning visual centrepiece. High above, the dome glows even on a dull winter day.

 

 

 

 

 

The imposing Catholic Cathedral is far less ornate, although its altar and organ are also richly decorated.

 

 

 

One of the great joys of Dresden is that most of the main sights are to be found close together in the old city.

 

Dresden Castle

 

City Centre near Cathedral

 

Procession of Princes

 

Another building close to the hearts of the people of Dresden was the Semper Opera House where major composers like Wagner and Richard Strauss had worked. It reopened in 1985. Indeed, it was to see a performance of Strauss’ most famous work, “Der Rosenkavalier”, premiered in this theatre in 1911, that a friend and I made the trip. I cannot think of any opera house I have visited with such rich and glorious sound. If that was all we had seen during our visit, we would have left happy!

 

 

Less well-known - at least to me – was the wealth of art in Dresden’s various museums. The Porcelain Collection in the Zwinger Palace is the world’s finest – perhaps hardly surprising given that the town of Meissen is close by. Amongst the many paintings in the Old Masters Picture Gallery are some by Canaletto (who visited the city), Titian, Raphael, Botticelli, Breughel, Van Dyck, Van Eyck, Vermeer, Rubens, El Greco, Velasquez and Rembrandt.

 

Nearby, the Barque Treasure Chamber (Historisches Grünes Gewölbe) has also been restored, Created in the 1720s, it houses an astonishing collection of over 2,00 works of the jeweller’s and goldsmith’s art, as well as precious b=objects made from amber and ivory.

 

Sadly we missed another of Dresden’s famous landmarks – the annual Christmas Market, Germany’s oldest and one of its largest. But some of the hundreds of stalls were already open and many tourists had started flooding into the city as we left.

 

 

 

 

 

It was also too cold to take one of the river cruises which take you to some of the many castles up and down stream.

 

 

If you are thinking of a long week-end break in Europe, Dresden should very definitely be on your list.

 

PS: Whilst we did not experience any gay life, we noticed this little sign on one of the buildings

 

[Guest]

Thanks for another fine post Fountainhall.

 

 

For the German gay scene, the following website is good.

Scroll down the page & click on the appropriate city.

A little German is useful, but words like Bar and Cafe should not be too difficult.

 

http://www.gay-web.de/home.html

[Rogie]

That's great to see what Dresden has managed to do, and shows that one way to come to terms with the past is to embrace a vision.of how things might have been had it never happened.

 

Much enjoyed the photos and the accompanying descriptions.

[Guest fountainhall]

. . . shows that one way to come to terms with the past is to embrace a vision.of how things might have been had it never happened.

 

I'm not sure I entirely agree! We cannot undo the past. Like it or not, what was done was done. Whichever side one believes to be in the right in any war, virtually destroying whole cities by fire-bombing and killing tens of thousands and more civilians cannot ever be undone, whether that was in Dresden, London, Coventry, Berlin or Tokyo. Future generations should always remember what happened.

 

More to the point, I suggest, is the reconciliation that is being brought about by the restoration of such symbols as Coventry Cathedral and the Dresden Frauenkirche. The former is a modern design; the latter an exquisite reproduction. When former enemies join together to recreate what was destroyed, then I think we are all on the path of reconciliation and forgiveness. That surely is the message.