We began the day all together with a walking tour of Dresden. This city has a long, complicated history. The short version (according to me) is this: Dresden is the “capital” of the Saxony region of Germany. It has a long history of kings, princes and rulers. When Martin Luther tried to reform the Catholic Church, much of that originated close enough that there were very strong ties here to the Reformation. Thus, there were great issues with generations of leaders who were either pro-Reformation or anti-Reformation. The issue was further complicated because the ruler of Saxony became the ruler or Poland for some period of time. By law, the king of Poland had to be Catholic. So that also created problems. But through it all, the city of Dresden grew into a prosperous, influential place. The kings liked living here and built great buildings in Baroque architecture. The city was a famous tourist destination for centuries. At the end of WWII, the Americans and British carried out a devastating bombing campaign on Dresden. The British were angry about the bombing of London by the Germans, destroying many beloved places. So they chose this place - a symbol of German greatness and beloved cultural center - to get revenge. Our guide also explained that since the Germans had taken so much of their operation underground, the Allies ran out of military targets, so they started choosing psychological ones. They would send some sort of bomb down through the center of a landmark, which created a hole, or tunnel. Then they would drop a fire bomb that would burn the entire building from the inside out. The heat was incredible - over 1,000 degrees. Dresden was destroyed. Here is a famous photo of Dresden after the bombing.
Incredibly, the city has rebuilt so much in the years since 1945. What struck me was that the bombing in 1945 - while terrible - was only one of many times that the city had been destroyed. Whether by fire or war or other means, this city has been through many devastating times and rebuilt itself over and over again.
Dr. Mikesell giving the group a little information before our tour begins.
This is one of the courtyards of the palace in Dresden. This palace was mostly destroyed in the war, and has been carefully rebuild. The walls are made from layers of stucco in white, black and gray and then designs scratched out in them. It was a technique that had to be researched and relearned in order to rebuild.
This is a close up of the scratched out stucco technique.
This is the place where horses and carriages arriving at the palace would come. There is a “pool” (no water in it now) in the middle to wash the horses off. Then the carriages would be taken up the ramp on the right and around to the second floor on the building while the horses stables were kept down.
Our group walking along the long side of the stableyard. Do you see the stag heads at the top of each column? The top of this building is a long hallway that visitors to the palace would walk down after arriving. It was filled with portraits of all the great kings of Dresden and displays of their swords, guns, artillery, etc. The goal was to impress and intimidate visitors. Later I was able to see this hallway. Keep reading.
On the other side of the stable yard is this mural of many different leaders of Dresden. It is called the “Procession of Princes”. It was scratched into stucco and since it was on porcelain tile, it miraculously survived the bombing since it had already been fired so many times at such high temperatures.
Lots of cheese!
This is probably the most famous site in Dresden - the Frauenkirche. It was originally built as a Catholic Church but became a Protestant one sometime in the history of Dresden during the back and forth of Protestant/Catholic history of the city. During the bombing in 1945, the church was mostly destroyed. The ruins were left for over 50 years as a war memorial. East Germany was not interested in spending money to rebuild churches, but the city managed to convince them to at least leave it be. In 1994, after the reunification of Germany, they started the process of rebuilding it. Reconstruction was finished in 2004.
This is a neat fountain inside the Dresden Zwinger. That is a courtyard surrounded by several impressive buildings. It was the site of royal marriages, art museums (then and now) and other cultural events. While we were there, there was a big light show and concert going on in the evenings.
This is where our tour ended, a beautiful view of another church in Dresden, the Catholic one.
Fun walking around town.
We were hoping to take a river cruise to see a few more castles along the river, but due to the holiday weekend, we just couldn’t get tickets. We tried several times and it just didn’t work out. So, we checked out the river ourselves.
Our group started to break up at this point and go on their own adventures, but many did go inside the Frauenkirche. It was not in the shape of a cross- like a cathedral, it was round.
In the square outside of the Frauenkirche, there was a statue of Martin Luther.
Some people went to climb to the top another nearby church to see the view. Casey decided to climb to the top of the Frauenkirche. Someone took a photo of Casey at the top of the Frauenkirche while they were on top of the other church.
Inside the other church.
After some lunch, many in the group headed back to the palace to explore the museum inside.
This was a bicycle wrapped in green garden hose in the contemporary art part of the museum.
Lots of armor and displays of different weaponry.
This was the part of the museum I was most interested in in seeing. They had several items of clothing from the 1600s. Special formal wear from the rulers of the time.
This is a close up of the detail in one of the king/prince outfits. It is highly detailed embroidery of different landscapes around the area.
Remember the corridor I mentioned that goes from the stableyard to the palace? I found it! It was indeed full of portraits, weaponry and paintings of jousting tournaments.
This was random, but fascinating. It was apparently a bomb - looked like WWII era, that had been changed into a musical stringed instrument.
The throne room in the castle.
On my way back to the hotel, I treated myself to a Dresden specialty - there are lots of chocolate shops and one makes these chocolate ice cream bars. They are covered in cocoa powder which makes it interesting to bite into. It was kind of like biting into a peach - with a fuzzy exterior. But it was really good.
We found more stumbling stones - so apparently they are not just a Berlin thing. This is a photo of a group of two sets. Two different families. They are arranged in order of generations. The top row is parents, then the next row kids, then grandkids. These said the former occupants of these addresses had died either in Auschwitz or in ghettos.
Frauenkirche selfie!
David and I went to eat supper in the plaza around the Frauenkirche. The students all went on their own adventures. The momma in me sent them a message later in the evening checking in to see if they were okay and I got these two photos. They were skipping rocks along the river and then went to a beer garden. They had other parts of their day that were interesting, but I’ll let them tell you all about it on their own.
I’ll end this post with this photo. They are exploring Germany together, learning about life in other places, making new friends and enjoying life together.
Comments
Post a Comment