Dresden is one of the prettiest places that I have seen so far on my trips. This is striking for two particular reasons. First of all it was almost fully destroyed in February 1945 when the Allies firebombed the city, causing fires of more than 1000 degrees centigrade and destroying the cultural architecture that made Dresden famous. The second thing that makes it surprising that this burned out city has been reborn is the fact that it was under the rule of the communist GDR for 40 or so years. The communists are not famous for their love of beautiful architecture, the exact opposite is actually true. Thus the city, rebuilt in most of its former glory, still shines today. We were able to attend a symphony playing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 along with other selections in the Frauenkirche (the Mother Church). This was an amazing experience as it allowed us to see the church in all of its rebuilt glory (it burned with the city and was recently rebuilt with funds from the state of Germany as well as 4 other former-allied nations who raised money for it). We were also able to enjoy some amazing classical music, though I may have drowsed off for a few minutes. The next morning we went on a tour of the city of Dresden and saw the Frauenkirche in the daylight. It is an interesting building as it is constructed with a mix of old stones and new. Thus the church has the appearance of a fired building. Some of the stones and one corner of the church are soot black while others are a nice sandstone. We continued down the Procession of Dukes, a street with a giant mosaic almost 100 yards long made of porcelain that the city is famous for making. In this mosaic are the dukes of the city and some religious expressions. After seeing this we entered the Hofkirche. This cathedral was built by August the Strong in a response to the building of the original Frauenkirche. He converted to Catholicism during his reign for financial and political reasons and thus felt that he should have a church to match the Protestant one. However, the people of the city, who were mostly protestant, did not recognize it and thus its bells were not allowed to ring until the city was conquered by Napoleon. We then ventured into the museum of the Zwinger. This museum holds four separate exhibits: Mathematics and Physics, Famous Artwork, one of Medieval Armoury, and finally porcelain from China, Japan, and Dresden. The Art section was extravagant and classified by the time period and the origin of the painter. In the exhibit I saw a Rafael and several Rembrandts as well as a special exhibit on Vermeer. The art section behind me I headed to the Armour! I love medieval armour and weapon design and thus was entranced by the lavish engraving and ornamentation on these pieces. They were very selection-focused on swords, armour, and early guns. Although I am not personally interested too much in early firearms, these examples were exquisitely designed and would have been amazing to see in their heyday. In all it was an amazing exhibit and has only been surpassed in my eyes by the MET in New York City. I toured the porcelain section as well and was amazed by the detail achieved in some of the pieces. Though it was not my favorite part of the museum, I did enjoy a piece titled Affe mit Snuftabakdose. This translates into “Monkey with snuffbox” and depicted a monkey taking snuff and holding a little box in its other hand. This was a comical piece to me and I was humoured by the creation of such a fantastical situation. This fairly ended our tour of Dresden, and, though I am heading to Berlin tomorrow, I find it hard to believe that I will enjoy it more.
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