Explore a city that rose from the ashes of WWII.
Dresden, Germany, became infamous for its absolute destruction in WWII. In February 1945, carpet bombing nearly wiped Dresden off the map. After the war, the communist government tore down most of the ruins, including former opulent residents, churches, and palaces. However, a few buildings were saved and rebuilt. I was very curious how this reconstruction turned out. I was greatly impressed.
Dresden was a wasteland. It took decades to rebuild the city.
Most of the rebuilt structures are in one small area of the city center. The reconstruction of the city continues still. Today, Dresden is a combination modernist style, along with rebuilt older structures. Many of the rebuilt structures still show the scars from the bombing in WWII.
Jana Irving Dresden still has a bit of commie art. There is a bit of text on it that reads, “the way of the red flag.”
Jana Irving First look at Dresden Castle (Residenzschloss). It’s one of those castles that now just look like a palace. Fortunately, much of the shell of the structure survived the war.
Jana Irving Look at all these fancy new buildings. Not sure when they were rebuilt but they do look very nice.
Jana Irving Kathedrale Sanctissimae Trinitatis (the Cathedral) and Dresden Castle again.
Jana Irving The Dresden Opera House (Semperoper) has been rebuilt at least twice since its first construction in 1841.
Jana Irving I’m basically just making a big circle around Dresden Castle waiting for it to open. The cathedral somehow wasn’t completely obliterated by the war.
Jana Irving The cathedral only became a cathedral in 1964. The Catholic rulers of Dresden in the 18th century had a new church built here because the rest of the city was protestant.
Jana Irving Skipping ahead to the afternoon when I went inside. The cathedral is fairly simple inside. The ceiling did collapse from the bombing, so there might have been a painting up there originally.
Jana Irving Love the color in this chapel.
Jana Irving Georgentor, the main entrance to Dresden Castle. Very imposing.
Jana Irving Hausmannsturm (the tower) and the recently reconstructed bridge between the cathedral and castle.
Jana Irving Fürstenzug, a long porcelain tiled mural featuring 35 Saxon rulers. Somehow it survived the war fairly intact.
Jana Irving Close up! It was originally a painted mural from the 1870s. It was later tiled in the early 1900s.
Jana Irving Heading into the castle, finally.
Jana Irving Got a bit sidetracked by another courtyard. This is very recently reconstructed. The castle reconstruction is still in progress.
Jana Irving The now covered inner courtyard of the castle.
Dresden Castle as two main ticketed areas, the Green Vault (Grünes Gewölbe) and the main museum. The Green Vault is a reconstructed 18th century treasures museum. It is fancy, but no pictures so check it out here. The main museum has restored state rooms and a bunch of other exhibits featuring art, weapons and coins.
I visited the Green Vault first, but before I could move onto the main museum, the fire alarm went off. It was accidently triggered. It was just a weird situation. By the time that was over with, I just grabbed my stuff from the locker and went to lunch. I did come back later.
Jana Irving Skipping ahead to when I actually went to the museum. The New Green Vault is part of the main museum (the original Green Vault requires a separate ticket.). It’s full of many similar things as you would have found downstairs in the Green Vault, but there were a few very strange items.
Jana Irving I don’t know how this came about but I like it.
Jana Irving There are a couple of historic clothing exhibits. It’s not often you see 16th and 17th century clothing, especially clothing looking this fancy.
Jana Irving One of the few reconstructed palace rooms.
Jana Irving Very fancy throne room. They really did a good job on these rooms.
Jana Irving Most of the state rooms have only been done recently in the 21st century.
Jana Irving One very fancy State Bedroom.
Jana Irving Another fancy reconstructed courtyard. They are still working on this one.
Right after eating lunch, but before going back to Dresden Castle, I checked out the Zwinger. The Zwinger was built in 1709 to be a festival area, garden and orangery. It was later finished and turned into a museum complex in the 19th century. Today, it is still a museum complex. Unfortunately, I visited when the inner courtyard was all torn up. Not sure what they were doing but it has been going on for a while. I also didn’t have time to check out any of the museums there.
Jana Irving Gorgeous building, annoying construction.
Jana Irving The Kronentor (Crown Gate) was the Zwinger’s very fancy entrance.
Jana Irving Such a gorgeous Baroque building.
Jana Irving Very pretty.
Jana Irving After the Zwinger I headed to Platz Neumarkt, which has gone through an amazing transformation since the 1990s.
Jana Irving Frauenkirche remained in ruins until the 1990s as a memorial to the war. A decision was made to rebuild the church and it was consecrated in 2005.
Jana Irving Very, very pastel. Especially for a Lutheran church.
Jana Irving After finishing up at Dresden Castle, I did a bit more wandering.
Jana Irving There’s a lovely promenade along the river with some fancy buildings.
Jana Irving There’s Frauenkirche again.
Jana Irving A very lovely promenade.
Jana Irving
I was really impressed by the rebuilding of Dresden’s city center. While there are still communist and more modern buildings nearby, they have done a good job trying to bring back the city’s character. I could have used another day in Dresden. There are a lot of museums in the city I wasn’t able to visit. I would love to see the Zwinger after its finished. Guess I’ll have to come back.
For further info on the rebuilding Dresden, check out this great video!
Check out my next update where I end up in Berlin!
or
Start at the beginning of this adventure in Zurich!
