Holly's Visit - Dresden

December 2012
Dear All,
This is a continuation of trip we made with Holly.  We spent a night and a day with her in the City of Dresden, which was a beautiful culture center before the WWII.  This city was the seat of government for the state of Sachsen, and was embellished with many beautiful and large buildings by August the Strong.  Unfortunately it was destroyed in 1 one of bombing right at the end of the war in retaliation for the early bombing of the city of Coventry in England.  75,000 -100,000 people died that night.  Some of the city's old buildings have been restored along with the palace in the center of town, but much was lost forever.  Many of the art treasures were lost, some hidden to protect them from being destroyed and their location lost to man, others taken to Russia and never seen again.   Dresden also has a famous Christmas market with the world largest "Weihnactspyramide" (the German Christmas pyramid ).  The following pictures will try and give a taste of the beauty of the city and of the Christmas Market of which there are 5 or 6 in the city at various locations (we hit them all).

this is a Schwimpbogen  several centuries ago the minors when the came home would put the miners lamps on a bowed piece of wood in the window to light the way for other miners on their way home at night.  This is the entrance into one of the markets, which has been continually held since 1578

One of the many little stands, this stand is selling the wood handwork that is indigenous to the area of the Erzgeberge.  They are selling wooden smokers wood carvings Schwimpbogens, pyramids, and many other things made of wood.  You can see the large pyramid behind the stand

This is the same pyramid in the day.

This and the next picture is of the big pyramid at night

This market was located next to the Frauen Kirche which was built by August the 2nd to gain Papal support of him as the king.  The church is huge and beautiful inside.

This view was taken from the top of the Frauen Kirche.  It has quite a commanding view of the city.  This picture was taken using the zoom lens

This is another view of the city and the River Elbe taken from on top of the Frauen Kirche

This is the beautiful altar inside the church.

From accross the River Elbe you can see the College of Fine Arts building on the left with the Frauen Kirche on the right in the back ground.

This is part of the palace court yard with a formal classical garden.  The tower in the back has a Glockenspiel which uses porcelain bells.  At one time Dresden was one of the porcelain centers of Europe, and made very high quality porcelain products.

Here is a close up of the tower with some of its porcelain bells that they ring.  The sound is very delicate and beautiful

This wall is 3 football fields long, and is made of 24,000 porcelain tiles.  It is a history of the kings from 1125 to 1873.  Somehow it made it through the bombing.

This is only a small sample of the interesting beauty of this city.  All around these old restored buildings and squares is a modern city built from the rubble after the war.