Rising from the ashes...Dresden, Saxony!

 

20120813_194656

There are few places in Europe with a more disturbing history yet of such surprising beauty: Dresden, capital of Saxony in the former East Germany, devastated by an infamous air raid in February 1945 and by the millenium floods of August 2002 exactly a decade ago - yet shining ever so proudly above the banks of the Elbe river with beautiful buildings both historic and new. 

20120814_115225 20120814_125055
See the full gallery on Posterous

Every time we arrive in Dresden, guests are pleasantly surprised by the city´s charms, beauty and unparalleled historic legacy. From driving into central Dresden and seeing its magnificent skyline, preferably from the other side of the Elbe river in Dresden Neustadt in what is called the "Canaletto view", to exploring the area around Our Lady´s Church and the recently restored Neumarkt, Dresden is a place of discovery, depth and character. For centuries it served as the seat of the WETTIN dynasty, the kings of Saxony, whose most illustrious leader AUGUSTUS THE STRONG also converted to Catholicism and built the Catholic Court church to become king of Poland in what is otherwise the Cradle of Reformation. His alleged strength was mostly sexual according to legend, since he had incountable mistresses and children and some say all Saxons are direct descendants of Frederic Augustus. During his reign, numerous artists, writers and musicians came to the Wettin court and contributed to Saxony´s artistic wealth and legacy, among them Gottfried Semper, who built the magnificent Opera house of the same name. The first European porcelain also hails from Saxony, from the nearby town of Meissen, and the porcelain bells of the carrillion as well as the Porcelain museum inside the Zwinger palace are true highlights of any visit here.

20120814_125224 20120814_161813
See the full gallery on Posterous

Few things anywhere in Europe can compare to the exhibit of the Wettin treasury at the NEW GREEN VAULT inside the Residence. Exuberant displays of marble, diamonds and ivory amaze and surprise visitors. Nowhere else may we find such a priceless collection of treasures. Augustus the Strong also had a huge 22000 piece Meissen china collection - parts of which equally on display at the porcelain museum and the Green Vault. The other great museum, the Old Masters Gallery inside the representative ZWiNGER palace with the highlight of Rafael´s "Sistine Madonna" also attests to the great artistic taste of the kings of Saxony. 

20120814_134827 20120814_142305
See the full gallery on Posterous

Adjacent to the Residence and Catholic Court Church we find a wall called "Parade of Princes" where all the leaders of the Wettin dynasty are immortalized on the wall by way of precious Meissen porcelain tiles. Yet the latest addition and unquestionable highlight of Dresden is its landmark, Our Lady´s Church - devastasted by a huge fire in the aftermath of the 1945 air raid and left in ruins as a symbol of war until the 1990s, when it was decided to rebuild it mostly from private donations. A key role was played by the mutual reconciliation efforts between Dresden and Coventry in the UK and with such mutual support and the help of private donors, the church could be reerected in its original form using both original stones (dark) and new Elbe sandstones (light) to be reopened to the public in 2005. Since Elbe sandstone tends to oxidize and turn dark, the two-colored look of Our Lady´s Church will only last a few decades before turning darker altogether along with the other landmark buildings of central Dresden such as the beautiful Zwinger, Court Church and Albertinum. 

20120814_161120

For a modern contrast to the restored historic center of Dresden, me way wish to head down Prager Strasse pedestrian zone towards the Central Station, where amazing examples of modern architecture await us, including the Kugelhaus, Centrum Gallery and Altmarkt Gallery retail complexes. The former even features a beach on its roof in summer time, where it is possible to escape the city for a few hours over chillout music and a drink in a lounge chair. Lastly, a drive from formerly destroyed and now restored central Dresden to the suburbs of Blasewitz and Loiben untouched by the war, gives us an unparalleled impression of beautiful villas and grand vistas along the Elbe valley featuring vineyards in the Northernmost wine growing region of Germany, castles of rich industrialists that made a fortune with tooth paste and mouth wash and many more surprises in a city that has made a comeback like almost none other in Europe.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The "Porrat de San Antón" in Alicante

Image
ALICANTE - Guapa, Guapa y Guapa - is the new catch phrase chosen by Alicante Tourist Authorities for their new 2011 campaign, along with the subheading "Quiereme como yo te quiero a ti" (Love me as much as I love you). In deed, Alicante has come a long ways over the past decade or two in revamping its image from an ugly portside duckling to a shining Mediterranean jewel. Much remains to be done, but overall, the city is certainly on the right track. Despite hords of Northern European vacationers taking the city by storm in the summer, Alicante remains quintessentially Spanish with its own infrastructure, traditions and celebrations. No better way to pay tribute to the spirit and beauty of Alicante than to introduce one of its major local festivals, the "Porrat de San Anton". Spain is known for its many festivities year-round from the bull run of San Fermines in Pamplona to the Fallas fireworks in Valencia. Yet many holidays and festivals are of a more loca
Read more

Savoring History and Nightlife in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin

No doubt Berlin has come of age and become en vogue...promoted by the local tourist authority as party capital of Europe, thousands of visitors young and old descend onto the city in search of recent history in the making and long wild nights out partying until dawn. Berlin caters to both, but most visitors will stick to the "highlights" around the Brandenburg Gate, Under den Linden or Checkpoint Charlie along with what is left of the Berlin Wall (1961-1989). Few if any will venture beyond those main attractions, and rarely do visitors embark on explorations of "local Berlin", which is unfortunate, as the German capital has existed as a "big city" - a large incorporated Berlin Metropolitan Area - only since 1920 - and the numerous communities and villages that are part of Berlin today, all have their own history, color, dialect and trajectory. One of the most avantgarde, talked about and interesting districts of Berlin is the neighborhood of PRENZLAUER B
Read more

Holiday Magic in Beautiful Bratislava

More than 2 decades since the Fall of Communism, there are few places left behind what used to be the Iron Curtain that truly look and feel different. Particularly close to the former Western border, many cities have adopted the same blend of commercial infrastructure and cityscape as their counterparts in Western Europe. In order to feel some of the remnants of what life under communism used to be like, it is nowadays necessary to travel much further afield to the East, unless we opt for Bratislava, capital of Slovakia and a mere hour away from waltzing Vienna. A journey to Bratislava also has the added benefit of introducing us to a destination much less publicized and thus less crowded than, say, Vienna or Prague and allows us to visit the capital of one of Europe's youngest nations, the Republic of Slovakia, created by the "Velvet Divorce" of the Czech and Slovak Republics in 1993. A visit to Slovakia thus also confronts us with the notion of cultural identity at the
Read more