Dresden jewel raised from rubble

Monday, October 31, 2005; Posted: 1:08 a.m. EST (06:08 GMT)

For 27 years, Dresden residents had known their cathedral as just a mound of rubble.

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Dresden landmark reopens (2:23)

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DRESDEN, Germany (AP) -- Some 60,000 people celebrated the reopening of Dresden's baroque cathedral Sunday -- 60 years after Allied bombs destroyed the 18th-century church and its famed bell-shaped dome during World War II.

German President Horst Koehler, Britain's Duke of Kent and the ambassadors of the United States and France were among 1,800 guests at the dedication ceremony in the Frauenkirche cathedral.

People from across Germany and beyond gathered in the broad city square outside and watched the service, which began to the pealing of the Lutheran church's eight bells, on giant video screens.

From the richly decorated church's restored pulpit, Bishop Jochen Bohl said that the restoration of the baroque landmark was a "great work in the spirit of reconciliation."

"Our hearts and senses are moved by gratitude and great joy," Bohl told the audience, which also included German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his designated successor, Angela Merkel, who sat next to U.S. Ambassador William R. Timken Jr.

Of the project's overall cost of 179 million euros, ($215 million), roughly 100 million euros, ($120 million), came from donations -- including a sizable amount from the United States and Britain.

For 47 years, Dresden residents had known the Frauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady, as a 13-meter (43-foot) high mound of rubble flanked by two jagged walls. That was all that remained after British and U.S. planes strafed the city with firebombs on the night of February 13-14, 1945.

East German authorities had left it untouched as a memorial to the destruction of the war. But pressure for its reconstruction and fund-raising gained momentum after the fall of communism and Germany's 1990 reunification.

The retooled church is bright, painted in pastel yellows, pinks and blues trimmed with gold. The clear glass windows high in its sandstone dome, which is topped with a golden cross and orb paid for by British donors, let in light that illuminates the space below.

Part of the church's uniqueness is its round structure, the pews fanning out from the altar in a circle like the waves of a stone thrown into the water. The upper galleries also hold pews.

Although the inside carries the smell of new wood and fresh paint, there are reminders of the past everywhere: Most visibly, to the right of the altar, is the original cross that topped the dome, now twisted and charred.

Also salvaged were 2,000 pieces from the altar. Each was carefully cleaned and then incorporated into the structure based on photographs and the plans for the original church.

The church's outer walls are also mottled with stones from the original structure, blackened with time and age -- a reminder of the past and how it can lead to a new beginning.