DRESDEN (dpa) – Some people call it Dresden’s “Miracle in Stone” when they refer to the reconstruction of the Frauenkirche (Church of our Lady) which British and American bombers flattened in 1945 during the final weeks of the war against Nazi Germany.
Now 75 per cent complete, the new church’s re-emergence in the city once hailed as the “Florence of the Elbe, is proving to be one of Germany’s more inspiring stories since reunification.Standing in the now complete lower chapel, Hans Joachim Jaeger, business director of the “Society to Promote the Re-Erection of the Frauenkirche” says: “This church is not being reconstructed in order to be a museum.“Despite the gaps that still remain in Dresden due to the war, the new church is going to be a live and active place in the heart of the city. We are very proud of that,” he says.Amidst the drilling and clanging going on above, he talks of Sunday services already taking place in the church’s now completed lower chapel, of prayer meetings on Fridays and of fund-raising concerts and recitals on Saturdays.“Such activity makes us particularly happy,” he says, adding that the revived community can already rely on more than 6,000 local members of the “Frauenkirche Society”. “This means the church already has a strong basis for its future,” he says.Jaeger admits the Frauenkirche project hasn’t been all plain sailing, with rows and controversies at times surrounding aspects of its reconstruction.But he is full of praise for the new building’s architectural quality, saying: “This is a building that is going to remain in place for a very long time – without us ever being called on to make serious repairs or adjustments.”Designers are relying heavily on plans used by master carpenter George Baehr back in the 1720s when the original church was conceived.Completed in 1743, it was meant to be a gift to the city’s Protestant community, from the then Saxon King, Friedrich August, who was obliged to change from the Protestant to the Roman Catholic faith in order to obtain the Polish crown.Scaffolding embraces the new church premises, with craftsmen now working high up under a huge canopy, which is raised step by step as the construction advances, explains Jaeger.The church, with a gleaming cross 93 metres atop a new stone cuppola, is expected to be ready by 2005 – a year ahead of major celebrations planned for Dresden’s 800th anniversary in 2006.When the original church was built, its famous bell-shaped stone roof, consisted of a 5,800 metric-ton dome. This put the walls under considerable pressure, with the resulting damage caused during its erection more than 262 years ago, and worsened later.To avoid similar strain occurring, planners this time around are relying on two free-hanging steel anchor rings running close to a church cornice above a vaulted gallery, and connected via tie rods to 16 reinforced concrete blocks in the stonework.Fritz Wenzel, a restoration expert from Karlsruhe, reckons that by using the combination anchor system a “fourfold increase in safety” is going to be achieved, enabling the church to be built in its original historical form, using sandstone from the Elbe valley.Hundreds of fire-blackened “original” stones, salvaged from the bombed church ruins, have been integrated into the new structure, giving its edifice a curious domino effect.Its magnificent altar, found in hundreds of smashed pieces after the bombing 56 years ago, is also being painstakingly reassembled.A total of 35,000 people, most of them refugees, lost their lives in the Anglo-American bombardment of Dresden which turned the city centre into a rubble heap 18 million cubic metres in size.Piled church ruins stood for decades after the war for all to see, providing a grim reminder of the city’s destruction by a total of 1,250 allied planes.Ever since, historians have argued whether the raids were in retaliation for 1940 German bombing raids on Coventry, England, or a ploy aimed at delaying the rapid advance of the Soviet Army.News in the early 1990s that Dresden’s citizens wanted to rebuild the Frauenkirche touched the hearts of people around the world and triggered a remarkably warm response.A flood of money donations, small and large, began arriving from people eager to participate in the 260 million mark (125 million U.S. dollars) “reconciliation” project.In Germany, the Dresdner Bank donated a million marks. Helmut Kohl, German chancellor at the time, also arranged for a similar sum to be paid into the appeal fund on his 60th birthday a decade ago.Thousands of watches containing tiny segments of Frauenkirche stone were sold, bringing in further millions.An original initiative, founded in 1990, under the leadership of the Dresden musician Ludwig Guettler, began with just 14 members. Later the Society to Promote the Rebuilding of the Frauenkirche was formed, with thousands of members in Germany and 20 other countries.Promotional organisations abroad were set up, notably in Britain and the United States. The “Dresden Trust” in Britain is backed by the Duke of Kent and the Bishop of Coventry, the Rt.Rev.Simon Barrington Ward, while in the USA, the “Friends of Dresden Inc.” counts Henry Kissinger and David Rockefeller among its directors.Both have since raised large sums of money. “We are proud that much of the money has been raised,” says Jaeger, who adds that now a final push is being made to cover the full amount of money needed for the 260 million mark project. At last count, however, the fund was still 30 million marks short of its target.
