In 1945, what was sacred to every Dresdener, the image of the “beautiful city”, was ravaged, destroyed, dismembered - a loss that is felt even more painfully with every failed new building.
How did the very special Dresden beauty cult come about?
The Nazis had already tried to deal with it and coined the formula that the SED later adopted literally: Dresden would be rebuilt "more beautiful than ever".
It was a promise that could never be kept. In the meantime, a multiple of what was possible in other German cities has now been painstakingly reconstructed down to the last lintel and the last cornice. But the sensation of loss has remained.