The burg surprises visitors with fanciful Baroque architecture in a delightful-to-stroll cityscape, a history that mingles tragedy with inspiration, and some of Germany's best museum-going. A generation ago, Dresden was dreary, but today it’s young and vibrant, crawling with proud locals, cheery tourists, and happy-go-lucky students who have no memory of communism. Even so, Dresden’s heritage of destruction is hard to ignore.
I’ll never forget standing on Altmarkt square in the Old Town...
just another square. Then, looking down at the cobblestones, I saw an inscription that read, “After the air attack on Dresden on February 13-14 1945, the corpses of 6,865 people were burned on this spot.” Carved on a piece of granite above that was a simple statement: “ Thus the horrors of war, unleashed by Germany upon the whole world, came back to be visited upon our city.
” Four eras have shaped Dresden: its golden age in the mid-18th century; the city’s devastation in World War II; the communist regime (1945-1989); and the “reconstruction after reunification” era. Each city sight provides a glimpse into this timeline, so I like to weave my sightseeing into a day-long stroll for the most comprehensive and meaningful visit. The highlights are conveniently clustered along the delightful Elbe River promenade, nicknamed the Balcony of Europe.
I start at Theaterplatz, the main square and home to the statue of King John of Saxony, a mid-19th-century ruler who preserved Saxon .