How Germany’s Most Beautiful City Was Destroyed… and Rebuilt

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I was in Frankfurt recently, where some buildings have also been reconstructed in the style of what was there pre-WWII. A local said that some people referred to it as “Disneyfication”, making it nice for tourists. But nice is nice. Who doesn’t like a pleasant, attractive environment?

Happy to see that Dresden is slowly getting a beautiful city core again. It's hard to believe that there are people who are against this.

The ultimate example for me is always Rotterdam versus Middelburg in the Netherlands. Both were destroyed in the Second World War. Rotterdam was rebuilt as a modernist city, but Middelburg was rebuilt mostly as it was before. And tourists today flock in droves to Middelburg because of its beauty, whereas the same cannot be said for Rotterdam. The modernists can claim whatever they like, but the human is naturally drawn to traditional beauty, and not to the soulless boxes that are the modernist utopic vision.

I am Danish and have worked as a tour guide in Dresden for 12 years. My first encounter with the city was "love at first sight”. Although at that time, a large part of the area around the Frauenkirche was still more or less undeveloped. When I come to Dredsen today, I see the incredibly beautiful buildings around the church. It couldn't have been done better, thanks to the architects who made Dresden one of the most beautiful cities in Europe again.

As a Non-European, there's something about Western (more specifically classical/traditional European Architecture) that just oozes grandiosity and beauty that leaves me in utter awe and appreciation.

I visited Dresden last year. I was stunned by the beauty and the feeling that it was not a pastiche… the city felt authentic, and even though it was rebuilt, it was rebuilt properly. I was blown away by the delicate beauty of the Frauenkirche. Dresden is one of my favourite European cities. And a very different city to those comparatively modern cities in my country, Australia.

I come from Poland, another country where 75 years ago cities looked similar to Dresden. Warsaw was largely rebuilt following historical standards, why not Dresden or Leipzig? Today visiting Neumarkt or Stare Miasto is simply a pleasure.

Great video! The segment about Neustädter Markt is so important, as it is easy to think that Dresden is now "complete" after it renovated Neumarkt. There are still many visible scars in the city, and I hope more will be healed in the coming years.

I was there recently. There is such a contrast between the way the architecture makes you feel in the beautiful old city vs the soulless modern areas nearer the train station.

I am a socialist and I find it crazy that some people think appreciation for traditional architecture is reactionary. What I find authoritarian and reactionary is letting small elitist cliques make decisions on such an important aspect of quality of life as urban environment against the majority of the public. There is a reason why people all over the world have pictures of Paris, Venice or Prague in their living rooms instead of brutalist or modernist buildings that only architects like. I mean, modern architecture can look good, the Louvre pyramids in Paris or the Sydney Opera house are stunning but modern architecture works better if used parsimoniously as a highlight in an overwhelmingly traditional cityscape.

Thanks for this excellent video. I took my wife to Dresden earlier this year. It was my second visit: my first was over 40 years ago when I was as a diplomat accredited to the former GDR. I was deeply moved by the beauty of the transformation achieved since my last visit, particularly of the Frauenkirche which was a pile of rubble during my earlier visit. It had then been deliberately left in that terrible state as a memorial to the allied bombing raid of 13 February 1945. The reconstruction since reunification is nothing short of a miracle. I was particularly proud that Britain had contributed to the cross on the dome as a symbol of reconciliation. I was delighted to learn from the video that there are further plans for the Neustadt. Sadly I doubt if I’ll still be around to see their fulfilment but I wish those concerned every success.

I am an American who moved to Dresden 3 years ago. One of the major reasons why I'm proud to live here is because the baroque image of Dresden pops into my head every time I think of the city, with or without me realizing it. I have also been following the efforts of the GHND these past few years, because I've also been captivated by the fact that they have made it possible to rebuild culturally vital parts of Dresden. And just like many residents, I also feel a kind of pain when I see old images of what Dresden compared to its current state. It's even more depressing when I think that a few loud minorities and the city council seem to be taking every effort (and somewhat successfully) to disrupt and prevent the further beautification of the Königsufer, although the citizens have already voted on it and the plans were drawn. I don't think the city council understands what makes this city beautiful for visitors and foreign residents; It certainly isn't old concrete Plattenbau buildings that one can find in hundreds to thousands of post-Soviet cities and towns (or many other parts of the city for that matter). They also seem to take the spike in tourists in recent years for granted. People want to be surrounded by a beautiful environment. Build and they shall come! Also, if any members of the Gesellschaft Historicher Neumarkt are reading this, thank you so much for your effort.

I was visiting Dresden in 1994 and witnessed the preservation of what was left of the Frauenkirche as well as the rescue of what was left in the rubble. Most stones had to be replaced but you can see every single old stone that could be restored went back to its original place. Thank you to everyone involved to make this possible. The church burnt for two days before one of the pillars carrying the dome gave in and caused a chain reaction. The restauration has a very strong symbolic value for the city itself after so much destruction.

Such an incredibly important video! We need to stand up for our cities. ❤ The first money I ever donated was for the rebuilding of Dresden's Frauenkirche. Ever since then, I was involved to make this city beautiful again. It was an honor and pleasure to interview the local heroes for this video. Greetings from the Berlin studio of The Aesthetic City, Bart Urban

I was born in Dresden and moved away 20 years ago. I visit 4 times a year and it's always beautiful when you come from the west on the Autobahn. You see the skyline of the city and it just radiates beauty and history. I love my Dresden.

I learnt alot about Dresden from a very young age because i used to love listening to my mom talking about the war to me. Most people from the UK are ashamed of what happened to that beautiful historical city i included. Its lovely to see some of these old beautiful buildings being rebuilt.

Great video. Maybe it was a blessing that Dresden was in East Germany. Because there was no money to rebuilt the city centre remained empty. In many west German cities they inmediatly started to replace the bombed city centre buildings with ugly modern architecture.

The most shocking part is that it is not even that much more expensive (3%-5%), which is a very small price to pay, compared to how much more money the city/investors will get only because of the more tourism and the higher prices of the more "liked" urban spaces.

Thanks for an excellent video. As a 63 year old Brit, I have travelled a great deal. One town that made a deep lasting impression is Dresden, which I visited in 2018. Knowing it's history and devastation, the question you keep asking yourself, whilst walking through the beautiful buildings and sampling it's wonderful atmosphere is 'how is this possible ?'. Your video answered this and shows what really can be achieved.