Germany: Dresden, DDR Museum

I made a couple of visits to this city from winter to spring 2010. Marks of turbulent history can be seen all around and I think this gives an interesting image to this place. Center of the city is dominated by tall buildings of baroque architecture, with yellow to dark brown shades of limestone and sandstone from which they are built of. Dresden suffered heavy destruction by Allied bombing raids at the end of WWII, and these marks can easily be seen today. On the other hand, Germans have done a tremendous work on reconstructing their city, and results of their efforts are truly amazing. Amongst examples is the recently reconstructed Frauenkirche church (2005.) which was completely destroyed in the bombing. Every stone of the reconstructed building was cut to the tiniest detail, resulting in an identical replica which looks stunning.

There is an ongoing debate on what to do with some buildings from the past socialist DDR era in the city center. On one hand it is nice to hear that considerable efforts exist on restoring the authenticity of the city center (taking into account the cost of such reconstructions compared to much cheaper "modern" architecture), and on the other hand there is a question whether it is justifiable to promptly erase traces of history which does not pose any danger of ever returning again. DDR is long gone and nobody seems to be missing it, but despite these bad memories people had built museums dedicated to these times, and in them they have put many items somebody might wish to remember after all. Anyway, there is no better place to see that part of history, other than here on former DDR territory.

River Elbe Panorama (VR)

After going through an interesting system of cliffs and gorges called the Sachsische Schweiz (Saxonian Switzerland), Elbe continues through the center of Dresden. Elbe valley is declared to be a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2004.

Augustusbrucke Panorama (VR)

Bridge was named after one of the Saxonian kings.

Furstenzug Panorama

Although not so apparent from this distance, this long mural is made of small porcelain tiles (famous Meissner porcelain). It depicts history of heirs in the Wettin dynasty which ruled Saxony in the past.

Frauenkirche Kuppelaufstieg Panorama Nord

Northern view from the reconstructed Frauenkirche church cupole.

Frauenkirche Kuppelaufstieg Panorama West

Western view from the reconstructed Frauenkirche church cupole.

Frauenkirche Kuppelaufstieg Panorama (VR)

360 degree view from the reconstructed Frauenkirche church cupole.

Frauenkirche Platz Panorama (VR)

Plateau in front of the Frauenkirche church.

VEB Pentacon Dresden factory building

Film cameras and lenses were one of the most famous export products of DDR, produced mainly by two companies - Pentacon from Dresden and Zeiss from Jena. Famous Ernemann Tower, named after one of the pioneers of camera production, is depicted on the Pentacon company logo. Today this building is converted to a technical museum, where old cameras can be seen together with some other relics of electronics era.

DDR museum in Radebeul

This museum is composed of many rooms filled with authentic artifacts from DDR era, which most probably you could not have seen anywhere else except in countries of the eastern block. Some rooms are complete reconstructions, like a typical grocery store, hair saloon, post office, living room, engineer's desk and many more. Some of these items bring back the atmosphere of 70ies and 80ies so lively that it is easy to forget what DDR actually was as a country to live in.