DRESDEN

die Hauptstadt Sachsens

Home to Kings

1206 - Dresden’s first mentioned

Kings of Saxony August the Strong

Catholic King of Poland 1694-1733

Dresden Fürstenzug

Kultur und Architektur

Florence on the Elbe

Renaissance buildings

Baroque architecture

19th century buildings

Approximately 523,000 citizens

Frauenkirche

Baroque dome Erected between

1726 and 1743 “Stone Bell” collapsed

on February 15, 1945 Left as an anti-war

symbol during GDR days

Rebuilt 2 million visitors since

2005

Frauenkirche

Die Semperoper

Gottfried Semper Architect for original opera house - 1841

Manfred Semper Son, in charge of reconstruction - 1869

Early Renaissance, Greek Revival and Baroque Architecture

Wagner operas premiered here Destroyed during bombing

Rebuilt 40 years later Reopened in 1985

Semperoper

die Katholische Hofkirche

Started building in 1738

Balance to the Frauenkirche

Considered Roccoco

Zwinger

Built between 1710 and 1728 “Zwinger” means “interspace” Frederick August married

Hapsburg Archduchess Maria Josepha

Originally built as an orangery and a location of festivities

Art Museum Baroque pieces Old and new masters Porcelain

Aerial View of Zwinger1933

Zwinger

Bombing of Dresden

February 13 through 15, 1945 Churchill – German Strategy

and Capacity to Resist Arthur Harris – Air Chief Marshal

Firestorm by the British Royal Air and the US Army Air Force

Destruction of the best of Germany

Civilians, Refugees, Casualties 25,000 to 500,000

http://web311.pavilion.net/2WWdresden.htm

Neumarkt und Frauenkirche in 1949

“Inspiration” for Slaughterhouse Five

"You guys burnt the place down, turned it into a single column of flame. More people died there in the firestorm, in that one big flame, than died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined."

--Kurt Vonnegut, Jr

das Ende