Reports and photos from the Frauenkirche Dresden official opening 30 Oct 2005

Written by Aidan O'Rourke
2005-10-29

The Frauenkirche Dresden was destroyed in the terrible air raids on Dresden in early 1945. It's said that the church may have stood for a day or so, the stones still glowing from the heat of the firestorm, before crashing to the ground.

Later that year, the Soviets took over Dresden and reconstruction slowly began. The Frauenkirche, however, remained a pile of rubble, left as it was, partly as a memorial to the ravages of war, and partly because the East German Communist authorities didn't have the means - or the will - to rebuild it.

In 1980 when I visited Dresden it was a pile of rubble and in summer 1992 when I returned, it was still unchanged.

But behind the scenes, moves were already underway to do the unimaginable, to rebuild the Frauenkirche brick by brick, restoring it to its former glory.

The story of the rebuilding is a long and fascinating one, but on Sunday 30 October 2005, the dream finally became reality - the Frauenkirche was re-consecrated.

The world's press was there to cover the event. I was there to take photos and record my personal impressions.



Most of the photos are available for personal or commercial use. Please contact for more information.

Read the account of my visit to Dresden in 1980, a city caught in a time warp.

2005-10-29