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The Week in Germany: Culture October 28, 2005 Dresden Frauenkirche to be consecrated amid ceremonies of reconciliation
Three days of ceremonies beginning on Reformation Day (October 30) will officially consecrate the reconstructed Dresden Frauenkirche, which has risen from the rubble of World War II bombing after a lavish reconstruction effort. The event will kick off a year’s worth of festivities celebrating Dresden’s 800th anniversary and serve as a joyous reminder of the peaceful relations between Germany and the Allied powers in the aftermath of the war. It has been called a phoenix rising out of the ashes. But the Frauenkirche in its new form wouldn’t exist without the thousands of individuals who have played a part in its reconstruction. A center for art, music and culture of the highest degree of refinement, Dresden was centuries ago given the nickname “The Florence on the Elbe.” Now, with the re-consecration of the Dresden Frauenkirche, and with rising business interest in the region, Dresden is well on its way to reviving the splendor of its past. History The Dresden Frauenkirche has always been a people’s church, beginning with the political developments that inspired its construction. In 1697, Dresden ruler August the Strong became King of Poland – and took the opportunity to convert to Catholicism, then a minority religion in the Elbe River Valley. The people of Dresden, being none too thrilled with their leader’s decision, demanded a church welcoming to Protestants. Under August II’s auspices, and with his generous financial support, they built the Dresden Frauenkirche, thus erecting the largest Protestant church in Germany and one of the country’s most important monuments to Christian belief and religious tolerance. Construction began in 1726 under the direction of Dresden architect George Baehr and was completed in 1734. The church was consecrated shortly thereafter — before an organ could be installed and while the altar was still incomplete. It wasn’t until 1738 that the church’s famed stone cupola was placed atop the structure, a feat which dumbfounded many architects of the day. The original church came to a crashing end on February 13, 1945, when the British Royal Air Force pummeled the city with bombs. It remained in ruins for years as a symbol of the devastation of war. In 1982, on the anniversary of the bombing, over 400 people came to the ruins with flowers and candles, initiating one of East Germany’s first peaceful protests – the likes of which would eventually topple communist rule in the country. Shortly after German re-unification in 1990, a plan was put in place to re-build the church whose history has for centuries been locked with that of the city and her people. Architecture
The Frauenkirche is just one of several masterful Baroque buildings that comprise the Dresden skyline, including the Semper Opera and the Zwinger Palace. The church dominates Dresden’s skyline with its spires and steeples, which flank its famous bell-shaped dome, the construction of which is comparable to Michelangelo’s dome for St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome in terms of engineering genius. Since the beginning, its interior has played host to musical performances – a role which will receive a fitting tribute in this weekend’s festivities beginning with a high mass on Sunday featuring Bach’s “Lobe den Herren.” Dresden-born architect Guenter Benisch, known most prominently for his work designing the stadium and village for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, relied on Baehr’s original documents to recreate a building that recalls the grandeur of Dresden’s past, all the while employing modern materials and state-of-the-art construction techniques. Most important to his approach was finding a way to make use of the more than 100,000 original bricks that had lain in heaps of rubble at the location for 45 years. The structure proved solid when a disaster of a different sort struck in August, 2002. That summer, torrential rains brought water from the Elbe River flowing through the church’s doorstep, though not enough to cause any substantial harm or affect the reconstruction schedule. Fundraising effort Over 100 million Eur ($121 million) have been collected from around the world to fund the reconstruction efforts – but much more is still needed to ensure that the burden of the costs, expected to reach far past 160 million Eur, are not entirely shouldered by the Dresden community. Donors interesting in taking part in this monumental project can do their part by purchasing a donor’s certificate or by symbolically buying one of the thousands of bricks used in the reconstruction. A symbol of hope and reconciliation Over 30,000 people gathered in Dresden on June 22, 2004, to watch as a golden cross was lifted by a crane and placed atop the Frauenkirche. The crowning of the church’s cupola was one more milestone in the rebuilding of a church that had come to symbolize the devastation of post-World War II Germany. Today, the Frauenkirche still teems with symbolism, though the true-to-every-detail form it has assumed over the past decade speaks more of the act of reconciliation between peoples than of the devastation of war. The new golden cross is part of that intended symbolism. It was forged
by a silversmith from Coventry, England, the son of a British pilot who
helped bomb the city at the end of the war. Coventry’s Duke of Kent,
President of the Dresden Trust, was instrumental in raising more than
750,000 Eur ($911,000) in Coventry alone to help rebuild the Frauenkirche’s
cupola, which had been given Dresden as a gesture of solidarity with the
German people — and as a thank you for German help in rebuilding
Coventry’s cathedral in the 1950s. Links: |
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