Dresden 2011

Our friend, Mark, visited for a week in October. Mark had visited Koblenz in the past and so wanted to see some other part of Germany while he was here. The facts that had seen some pictures of Dresden while watching the Women's World Cup games that took place in the "Florence on the Elbe" and that Dresden is the sister city of Columbus, Ohio, our hometown, made Dresden a logical choice for a visit.

Dresden is almost exactly a 5 hour drive from Koblenz. With Mark arriving on a Monday, returning the following Sunday, spending a day at BUGA, and another day on a hike around Koblenz, that left 3 days to drive to Dresden and see the city.

On a rainy Wednesday mourning, we got into the car and started off to Dresden. Driving east from Koblenz in not the easiest thing. The autobahn system is much more geared to North-South traffic. There is a good autobahn traveling southeast to Limburg. East from there are a combination of  an two lane highways and limited access highways (autobahn "want-a-be"s) that seem to be under continual construction but that does take the traveler through the farmlands of Hessen and the "dead zone" around the former border to the DDR. Then a few kilometers before the former border, the highway becomes a wonderful new autobahn. So new that for a large part of the remainder of our journey, our two year old GPS showed us racing across the green fields of Thuringen at 130 km/hr while it kept trying to correct our route to some abandoned road to the south.'

Dresden's Frauenkirche

We arrived in Dresden in the early afternoon and found our hotel, a newly opened ETAP conveniently located near at the Altmarkt. ETAP is one of the budget chains that is a part of the Accor hotel group. They have opened a number of new ETAP hotels in  major cities across Europe. While these new ETAPs have the ambiance of a youth hostel, they are inexpensive, clean and located near the tourist attractions. Obviously if  you feel that a part of traveling is enjoying drinks at the hotel bar or relaxing in a plush hotel room, ETAP is not for you. The Dresden ETAP had been opened just two months, was clean, had helpful staff, was in walking distance of the major attractions and was quite cheap. While it suited us just fine, I have to agree with the review I read that suggested that the room designs are such that you would only consider sharing a room with people that you are very close to.

After checking in, we took off, map in hand, to get our bearings and to visit at least one museum. The majority of the Baroque reconstructions in Dresden are centrally located in the Altstadt along the Elbe. The reconstruction of the buildings destroyed during the Feburary 1945 bombings started during the DDR time and continues today. Reconstruction of the 18th century Frauenkirche, a symbol of Dresden, took 13 years and was completed in 2005, one year before the 800th anniversary of the city founding.

A large part of Dresden's Altstadt (Old City) is pedestrian only, so it is great for strolling. As I mentioned, the areas is fairly compact, but big enough to have a lot of interesting buildings packed into them. Included in this area are the Frauenkirche, the Opera, the Hofkirche, the Fürstenzug, the palaces containing the major museums, and the river front.  The fact that there is a similarity in the architecture style and construction materials, seems to make it seem like there is more. There are open areas with interesting sight lines, and small streets. There are unexpected and elaborate fountains. The river front is dramatic. There is a thriving restaurant and bistro scene with tables spilling on to the streets and filled with people, even on a cold day. Or if warmth is desired, you can sit behind the large glass windows enjoying your favorite drink and a bit of people watching. The only negative thing about the restaurants in Altstadt is that a number of them seem to be parts of larger restaurant groups as a lot of the names are recognizable if you spent any time in Munich or Berlin.

Most of the Baroque buildings in Altstadt have been built with the same stone. That may not be obvious at first as a number of the buildings are black, while the the newer ones are a light brown. Our first thought is that some of these builds just need a good cleaning, but that is not the case. Rather the stone contains iron that oxidizes when exposed to the air. Over time, all the building will take on this blackness.

After strolling around the Altstadt, it is possible to continue across the Augustus Bridge to Neustadt (New City). The "new" here is relative. This part of Dresden dates back to 1732. There is still a neighborhood of Baroque builds that survived the bombings, although it is necessary to pass though a block of post WWII soviet style buildings to get there. There are a number of small antique shops (most selling Meissen) and other small shops that are interesting to visit. Also a number of restaurants that seem locally owned and are a bit less expensive than in Altstadt.

For centuries, Dresden has been a cultural and artistic center. Through its Brücke artists, Dresden was a very important city in the development of expressionism. For this reason, our first museum we headed for was the Galerie Neue Meister (the Galley of New Masters). Unfortunately, the expressionist collection was not as large as we had hoped. In retrospect this may have been more a problem with our expectation. Expressionism was after all considered "decadent art" during the Hitler years, and likely had little following in the post-WWII authoritarian government. There was a handful of paintings from the Brücke artists, and a number of seldom seen impressionist and post-impressionist to make the trip worthwhile.

Probably the most interesting collection at the Galerie Neue Meister was a special exhibition called the Neue Sachlichkeit (the New Objectivity). During the 1920s, Dresden, Hanover and Karlsruhe became centers for this new artistic style that attempted to depict the emotional reality of the post-WWI life around them. The pictures were of unemployed people, war invalids, as well as working women and children. Some were hard  to look at, others beautiful in their elegant depictions. All showed the wide-spread depression of life in Germany at this time, the Germany that gave birth to Hitler.

The surprising highlight of the visit was the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Picture Gallery). In honor of the 500th anniversary of Dresden's most famous painting, Raphael's Sistine Modonna. Well you might not be familiar with the painting, I'm guessing that most people have seen a part of it. That is the two angels at the bottom might be the most famous two angels ever painted. In honor the this anniversary and the pope's visit to Germany this year, the museum had a special exhibition of Madonnas from a number of famous painters. Included here was another Madonna that Raphael painted at the same time. Since this second Madonna is owned by and has never left the Vatican, this was the first time the two painting have appeared together since they were in Raphael's workshop 500 years ago. 

The Gallery also a wonderful collection of Dutch School paintings that include a number of impressive Rembrandts and delightful Vermeer (Girl reading a Letter at an Open Window).