When we came up from our Underground Car Park, right in the middle of Dresden, this was what we saw, the magnificent completely rebuilt Frauenkirche.
This church was originally build for Augustus The Strong, but it was not very strong, and in 1726 it was rebuilt as a symbol of protest against Augustus and his conversion to catholicism. The stone bell was amazing, it was 26 metres in diameter at its widest point and was the biggest stone dome north of the Alps. The external "shell" was up to l.75 m thick and the internal one is 25 cm thick, and between the two coatings is a spiral ambulatory (staircase!) which leads to the 68 metre high platform.
All this remained intact until almost the end of the war, in fact many people had fled to Dresden to escape the bombing going on all over Germany. 35,000 people lost their lives in the terrible air raids which completely flattened most of Dresden. It was thought to be a revenge attack for the bombing of Coventry some time earlier in the war. What a terrible waste of time war is.
Anyway the rebuilding of this magnificent church was not started until 1993, when money came in for all around the world, and the 4.70 metres high tower cross which crowns the Curch was a donation of the British Association "Dresden Trust"
We were able to go into the church, but no photographs were allowed. It was very impressive, Baroque of course, seated 1835 people in galleries with ornately painted ballustrades in the original colours of rose, blue, green and yellow. As for the rest of the description, I will show you my Guide Book sometime!!
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