Germany Guide
Saxony
Dresden
DRESDEN is synonymous with devastation; in fact, it's all about regeneration. Only Berlin or Hamburg suffered such total obliteration in the war, and Dresden had far more to lose. For two centuries before its Altstadt was reduced to a smouldering heap in February 1945, it was acclaimed the most beautiful city in Germany. Dresden's coming of age was thanks to Elector Augustus the Strong (Augustus Der Stark; 1696–1763), a self-styled Saxony Sun King who gathered to his court a brilliant group of architects and artists, who between them created a city of extraordinary grace.
Then came the bombs. After reunification Dresdeners began to rebuild the iconic buildings that had been left as ruins by the communists. Begun in 1990, the reconstruction became a metaphor for reconciliation, not just for East and West Germany but among wartime enemies. And when the wraps came off the Frauenkirche in 2005, the last icon of Europe's most striking Baroque city was resurrected.
Part of the attraction of the Altstadt is that it remains in the act of creation as the GDR past is airbrushed and the Baroque streetscape of its glory days reappears. Consequently the city fabric is patchy in places except around the showpieces that extend behind the Elbe between the two axes of the Altstadt: civic space Neumarkt, home to the Frauenkirche; and the Residenzschloss and splendid Zwinger pleasure palace – the former with some of its finest museums, the latter the great glory of Baroque Dresden. The Neustadt on the north bank emerged from the war with barely a scratch. Originally the Baroque "new town" of its name, it splits between the Innere Neustadt south of Albertplatz and Äussere Neustadt, where most culture is of the bar variety.
Dresden today is as rooted in its past as ever. Yet the two districts are effectively strangers. In one you have historic buildings and museums, tour groups and cafés. In the other, the north-bank Neustadt, is the best bar district south of Berlin. That they coexist happily accounts for much of Dresden's appeal as two cities in one.
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