The Dresdener Frauenkirche or the Church of Our Lady is located in the capital city of the state of Saxony in Germany. The church was earlier representative of Roman Catholicism but it veered towards Protestantism during the Reformation period. Later on in the 18th century the Roman Catholic building was replaced by a large Baroque Lutheran building. The building and the complex is regarded in the hi9sgest of esteems for its Protestant sacred architecture. The Dresdener Frauenkirche is characterised by one of the largest domes in the whole of Europe. Today, among the other references that can be drawn, it is also regarded to be a very important symbol of reconciliation between the former warring enemies.
During the bombings of World War II, Dresdener Frauenkirche suffered massive amounts of damages. The 18th century church bulling was nearly completely destroyed. For nearly 50 long years the damaged buildings were le3ft in their ruinous state as a war memorial. The reconstruction process could only begin in the year 1994 after the reunification of the German state. The exterior was completed almost 10 years after the work began, in 2004. The interior of the building was finished by the next year, 2005. Consecration of the church took place on the 30th of October 2005. The festivities that followed lasted till the next day that is the 31st of October which is observed by the Protestants as the Reformation Day. Much of the surrounding area which was known as the Neumarkt square which composed of innumerable baroque buildings, all of them were also reconstructed in the year 2004.
Dresdener Frauenkirche is often referred to as a cathedral, but on the contrary, it is not the seat of a bishop. The church of the Landesbischof here is the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Saxony which then is regarded as the Church of the Cross. On a monthly basis here you can attend an Anglican Evensong which is conducted in English by clergy from St. George’s Anglican Church, Berlin.
The History
As per certain beliefs the earliest known predecessor of the Dresdener Frauenkirche was a mission church constructed in wood. This church was known to have been constructed right after the year 1000.
Here the church styled in Romanesque tradition was dedicated to Our Lady, furthermore, which is symbolic of the Veneration of Mary in Roman Catholicism. Its construction dates back to 11th century and was located right outside the city walls and it was also surrounded by a grave yard. The Frauenkirche was a dedicated seat of an archpriest in the Meißen Diocese until the Reformation. Post the Reformation, the Church became Protestant.
Moreover, this church was brought down in the year 1727 and was replied by a much larger church. The church was transformed as a Lutheran Protestant parish church by the citizenry. Around this time an interesting event was on its course. The Prince elector of Saxony, Frederick August I had converted to Roman Catholicism to attain the throne of Poland. Despite all of these happenings he went on supporting the construction of the cupola in the Dresden landscape.
The Baroque additions to the church were made between `1726 and 1743. It was designed by George Bähr. He was an architect based in Dresden. Despite all his efforts he could not live long enough to see the completion of the church, his greatest work. It was the part of George Bährs designs that the protestant liturgy saw prominence. They were replaced by altar, pulpit, and baptismal front that were situated directly in the centre from where the entire congregation could be viewed.
The most iconic three-manual, 43-stop instrument was built by Gottfried Silbermann for the church in the year 1736. The dedication ceremony of the organ was conducted on the 25th of November the same year. Johann Sebastian Bach, the legendary German composer and musician hailing from the Baroque period was known to have given a recital on the 1st of December.
Among the most distinctive features was its dome. The dome of the church measured a length of 96 metres. This dome also has a name, it is called: die Steinerne Glocke or the Stone Bell. For its time, the dome indeed by all standards was an engineering marvel. Its design and construction are rightly compared with the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome which was designed by Michelangelo himself. This dome made of sandstone easily weighs about 12,000 tonnes and is based on the support network of eight slender pillars. This construction has managed to withstand time and nature along with all the initial doubts.
Observers and witnesses in 1760 during the Seven Years Wars have reportedly said that the dome was able to withstand direct hits from 100 cannonballs that were fired by the Prussian army which was led by Friedrich II. These cannonballs apparently just bounced off the church building.
Artists such as Bernardo Bellotto and the Norwegian painter Johan Christian Dahl had created representations of Dresden where the church gave a distinctive impression to the silhouette of the townscape along with the piece called Dresden by Moonlight respectively.
During the May Uprising in 1849 – the Church played a remarkable role as the centre of the revolutionary disturbances. At that time the region was barricaded and the disturbance lasted for quite a number of days.
The skyline of Dresden was dominated by the bell-shaped dome for over 200 years. Moreover, among the most famous individuals who are buried here include: Heinrich Schütz and George Bähr.
In the year 1945 on the 13th of February the Allied forces comprising of the Anglo-Americans commenced bombing on the city of Dresden. For nearly two days the church was able to stand tall. In the meantime 300 people who were sheltered by the dome were evacuated. Immediately after that the church gave way and crumbled due to the immense temperatures generated because of the bombing. The dome collapsed on the 15th of February at 10 am. Observers have mentioned that at around this time the pillars began to glow red and then exploded. It is estimated that the temperatures then must have reached about a 1000 degrees Celsius or 1830 degrees Fahrenheit.
Among the partially damaged sections of the church was the altar, a relief depiction of Jesus’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives which was created by Johann Christian Feige. The chancel and the altar were miraculously standing after the collapse of the entire building.
For nearly 45 years the many figures and other important pieces just remained buried in the pile of rubble. There were blacked stones which acted as a grave for the most important building belonging to the skyline of Dresden. With the end of World War II the residents began to salvage whatever they could find from the pile of rubble. They began to number the unique stone fragments from the Church of Our Lady so that they could be used in the reconstruction process. It was the popular sentiments which prohibited the authorities from cleaning up the site where it was then intended to construct a car parking. In the year 1966 the site was declared a memorial against war.
The site also became home to many of the peace movements since 1982. Here many of the peaceful protests would be conducted against the East German regimes. It was in the same year, on the anniversary of the bombing of Dresden that 400 citizens came together with candles and flowers to further the East German civil rights movements. In the next few years the number of protests increased exponentially across the many regions of East Germany. So much so that they had reached the number of tens of thousands by the time 1989 arrived. These sentiments resulted in the toppling of the wall which divided East and West Germany and thus Germany was reunified.
The reconstruction drive
Around the time of the last few months of the World War II the popular opinion concerning with the reconstruction of the church emerged. This sentiment was on the other hand could not proceed further because of the political circumstances in East Germany. But at the least many of the ruins were conserved under the war memorial project. Furthermore, in 1985 when the Semperoper which was a very important opera house in Dresden finally decayed completely, it was this incident which in-fact motivated the leader of Dresden to begin the reconstruction process. Also, when Germany was reunified the reconstruction drive rejuvenated itself. In 1989 a 14 member committee was constituted. The committee was operating in utmost enthusiasm and was headed by a noted and well respected musician from Dresden, Ludwig Güttler. It was through this group that The Society to Promote the Reconstruction of the Church of Our Lady was created. This society further indulged in aggressively generating funds for the reconstruction process. In the next few years this organisation also grew in its proportions and aims by reaching a membership of over 5000 and geographic outreach in over 20 countries. In Germany itself many auxiliary groups and associations carrying affiliations from the larger society emerged.
With the reconstruction drive gaining momentum architects, historians and engineers numbering in hundreds were brought together to sort out the thousands of stones, in their identification and labelling processes. There were many members who also worked together to generate funds.
A German born American, Günter Blobel who as a young boy had witnessed the grandeur of the original Church of Our Lady while seeking refuge a few days before the bombing of Dresden, he in 1994 founded a non-profit by the name of Friends of Dresden, Inc. This organisation was based in the United States of America and was dedicated to the reconstruction, restoration, and preservation of the artistic and architectural legacy of Dresden. Günter Blobel in the year 1999 won the Nobel Prize for medicine. He dedicated and donated the entire amount to the organisation. This donation amount was approximately 1 million dollars was also in-fact the single largest donation made by an individual to the project.
There was also the Dresdner Bank which contributed more than seven million Euros though the donor certificates campaign. This campaign had managed to collect over 70 million Euros right after 1995.
The reconstruction processes were immensely facilitated by the original plans made by the builder Georg Bähr in the 1720s. It was just a matter of chance that these plans managed to survive. Thus finally the reconstruction process could begin by the January of 1993 under the guidance of the architect and engineer Eberhard Burger. The very next year, in 1994 the foundation stone was laid and the crypt saw completion in the year 1996 and the inner cupola was finished in 2000.
To a very great extent the whole of the Church leaving the dome was built using the original construction material and parts. All of this was a result of an extensive documentation of the rubble that was remaining. With the use of modern technology quick and efficient results were achieved. Through three dimensional modelling each of the usable rocks were mapped which facilitated the architects in achieving proper results. Also old photographs came to a lot of use.
All these efforts to rebuild the famous landmark and much of the historic city reached its completion in the year 2005, one year prior to its completion deadline. It was just in time for the 800th anniversary of the city of Dresden in 2006. The church was also re-consecrated along with a festive service one day before the Reformation Day. This church became a monument reminding people of its history today and a symbol of hope and reconciliation.
Today, you can find two devotional services being delivered every day and two liturgies on each of the Sundays. Since the reopening of the Church of Our Lady, it has been a tourist destination in Dresden. Just within the first three years of its reopening nearly seven million people had visited the church either as tourists or to attend the worship prayers. It was also visited by the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama in 2009 just after his meeting with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Grünes Gewölbe.