DRESDEN, East Germany

The Rebuilding of a City

Page 3 - The Frauenkirche

The Frauenkirche Dresden ("Church of Our Lady"), was destroyed along with much of the rest of the city on February 13, 1945. It burned for two days before it finally collapsed into a pile of rubble. Nothing remained of its proud cupula, (an architectural masterpiece by George Baehr) which had dominated the Dresden skyline as the tallest building of the city.

 

The Woman's Church before the bombing

The original beauty of this church and its surroundings can be seen in paintings of Italian artist Canaletto, who spent many years of his life documenting Dresden.

Reconstruction Plans

To rebuild the church from what was left after the bombing, is a giant undertaking. Stone by stone, the pile of rubble was sorted, each block numbered and marked for re-use. (Stacked blocks are seen in the foreground). The drawing on top of this construction picture of 1998 shows how little was actually left of the church.

 

The Frauenkirche Reconstruction Site in 2000:

Not much can be seen of what is taking place inside the protective housing erected around the construction site. (The wall and roof allow the crews to work undisturbed by wind and weather). Currently much effort goes into reconstructing inside of the church - the rows of chairs, the altar complete with all the sculptures and paintings.

At this point in time the basement has been completed and is open to visitors.

 

visit DRESDEN (links to many different photos)

Learn more about the Reconstruction of the FRAUENKIRCHE (long download - but it's worth it!)

check out the Live Camera at the Frauenkirche construction site!

Documentaries on East Germany

 

Information & Pictures of the Berlin Wall

 

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This page was created by Simone Shoemaker, Coastline Productions. For comments, questions or to report missing links, please contact: simone@coastlinevideo.com