The beauty that rose from ruins

Published Feb 28, 2015

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Germany –

I am midway down the thin alley of Kleine Brüdergasse when the Busmannkapelle puts in an appearance. A phantom amid the feast of Baroque architecture that makes up most of Dresden’s central Altstadt (Old Town), this modern chapel is under construction, its pale simplicity mildly out of sync with the grandiosity around it.

It also tells a sorrowful story, designed as a memorial to the Sophienkirche – a pretty, 13th-century church destroyed in the World War II firebombing of Dresden, and, unlike several surrounding structures, not rebuilt.

It was 70 years last Friday that the Allies launched the infamous air attacks that turned one of Europe’s cultural landmarks – the capital of Saxony, often referred to as the “Florence of the Elbe” – into a blackened ruin, killing about 25 000 of its inhabitants.

Seven decades on, eastern Germany’s most beautiful dot on the map is not a city that dwells on the past. At least, not the wartime version of it.

Wander through its heart and you’ll find many of the most elaborate buildings dreamed up during its halcyon 18th and 19th centuries have been recreated to reflect their former glory.

The Semperoper, on Theaterplatz, resembles the opera house that opened on the square in 1841, although this fresh incarnation was completed in 1985.

Alongside it, the Zwinger – one of the palaces crafted for Friedrich Augustus I, Saxony’s flamboyant 18th-century ruler – could be the 1728 original, not the reproduction completed in 1963.

Of course, visitors can listen to the echoes of 1945 that resound in other parts of Dresden – not least its churches.

But this is also a city of scope and style whose charms play out in three distinct areas – the Altstadt, on the south bank of the Elbe, the Neustadt (New Town) on the north side, and its cool neighbour, the Aussere Neustadt (Outer New Town).

Dresden suffered badly in the 20th century, but it has a bright image of resurgence in the 21st.

UNPACK

The Steigenberger Hotel de Saxe is a fragment of the revitalised Dresden – staring at the Frauenkirche , across the once-rubble-strewn Neumarkt square. Here, 185 rooms and suites offer inner-city sophistication. Doubles from e101 (about R1 350)), room only.

THINK LOCAL

Dresden’s story is perhaps best told by those who call it home. Dresden Walks offers tours led by residents. Its “Old Town” jaunt sets out from Schlossplatz every day at noon and dissects the city of Friedrich Augustus I, the events of 1945 and their aftermath. A walk through the lighter-hearted Aussere Neustadt may be arranged as a private tour for the same price.

DRINK

Aussere Neustadt is Dresden’s nightlife heartland – especially on the buzzy strip of Alaunstrasse. Bar 84, at No 66, revels in potent cocktails like the Monza – vodka, cassis, grapefruit. Nearby, at 43 Louisenstrasse, the Louisen Gartenis a beer garden that serves up beers from e2.50 and chunky bratwurst for much the same.

EAT

Alaunstrasse also stretches to culinary flair – Lila Sosse, a favourite with residents, serves braised beef cheeks with mashed potato for e13.50.

Elsewhere in the Aussere Neustadt, Planwirtschaft, at 20 Louisenstrasse, peers back fondly at the Iron Curtain era, with old radios and antique typewriters littering a room where you suspect the walls are listening. The menu includes breaded pork cutlets for e9.80.

SPEND

The Neustadt is an intriguing shopping enclave – thanks, not least, to the vast Neustädter Markthalle. Open daily except Sunday, this covered market on Metzer Strasse dates back to 1899. Seriously damaged in 1945, it is now a pocket of stalls selling everything from flowers to toys. As enticing is the Aussere Neustadt’s Kunsthofpassage, an arcade with entrances at Görlitzer Strasse 21-25 and Alaunstrasse 70, full of boutiques.

DON’T MISS

The most pertinent symbol of Dresden’s revival is Frauenkirche, which dominates Neumarkt square. All but obliterated in 1945, its ruins remained in place for half a century, before it was refashioned.

It’s a companion to Kreuzkirche (daily 10am-6pm, except Sunday, noon to 6pm), on Altmarkt, which survived the inferno. The rear chapel has a “Cross of Nails” – a totem of kinship from similarly devastated Coventry in England. The Zwinger Palace, the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister boasts work by Raphael and Botticelli.

The Independent

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