TheDresden Historical Neumarkt Society e. V. (GHND) (German: Gesellschaft Historischer Neumarkt Dresden e. V.) is an association founded in 1999, [1] [2] which is committed to reconstructing the historic city centre of the German city of Dresden as much as possible.
The World War Two destruction of Dresden's historic centre began the desire for its reconstruction. Before the war, Dresden was seen as a unique, remarkable and extraordinarily beautiful example of civic baroque architecture that was beyond compare in Northern Europe. The night of February 13/14 1945 destroyed the whole town centre with all the residential buildings in the Neumarkt area. [3]
Following the war destruction, some historical buildings like the Zwinger Palace and the Semper Opera had been reconstructed by the GDR authorities, but very little development had taken place on the site of the former Neumarkt. The socialist authorities had demolished all but a few of the war ruins that had remained in the Neumarkt with plans of building a new socialist Dresden. These plans came to nothing and the site remained undeveloped into the 1980s. [4] This provided the opportunity for its reconstruction on the original historic footings.
When plans for the rebuilding of Dresden's Frauenkirche became certain, the (GHND) began calls for the reconstruction of the historic buildings that surrounded it. They wanted the Neumarkt to be redesigned according to the model of the site, with small plots and the possible restoration of the facades and roof landscape from before 1945. This began a fiery debate in Dresden. Architects protested against reconstructing baroque buildings, arguing that rebuilding would be a form of "cultural bankruptcy". [5]
However, in 2003, a petition in support of reconstructing the Neumarkt area was created and when it was given to the mayor of Dresden, it had been signed, within a few months, by nearly 68,000 people, amounting to 15% of the entire electorate. [6] This had ground breaking results because it demonstrated a broad support for the aims of the initiative and a widespread appreciation for historical Dresden.
Eventually, the city council decided on a concept for rebuilding a large amount of baroque buildings in accordance to historical designs, but with modern buildings in between them. The council set up a commission to ensure that reconstructions were built and that modern buildings had to fit in with them and did not clash with the historic designs. [5]
The association provided the necessary documentation for the reconstruction of the historic baroque buildings. [7] The association has able to achieve partial success, however, the local design commission of the city has in many cases prevailed with its demands for modernist breaks within the baroque quarters.
Outside the Neumarkt, the GHND is also campaigning for reconstructions on the Königsufer (Neustädter Elbufer) and on the Neustädter Markt on the other side of the Elbe, in particular for the former Baroque town hall and other valuable community centre buildings. [8]
The GHND operates its own information sites, with extensive lectures and publications and aims to be strong instrument of civil society engagement. It is nationally and internationally networked, such as with Stadtbild Deutschland e. V., INTBAU, with A Vision of Europe and Friends of Dresden in the USA. It is also financially supported by the Max Kade Foundation New York. Since 2009, the society has expanded its programmatic objectives: It is now generally committed to the "preservation and reconstruction of the historical evidence of architecture and urban development in the inner city of Dresden that characterises the cityscape". On December 11, 2010, a "friend and generous sponsor", the German-American Nobel Prize winner and President of the "Friends of Dresden", Günter Blobel was elected honorary member of the society.
GHND Chairman Torsten Kulke received the Henry Hope Reed Award from the University of Notre Dame in 2018 for his commitment. [9]
Dresden is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth largest by area, and the third most populous city in the area of former East Germany, after Berlin and Leipzig. Dresden's urban area comprises the towns of Freital, Pirna, Radebeul, Meissen, Coswig, Radeberg and Heidenau and has around 790,000 inhabitants. The Dresden metropolitan area has approximately 1.34 million inhabitants.
The bombing of Dresden was a joint British and American aerial bombing attack on the city of Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, during World War II. In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 772 heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and 527 of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices on the city. The bombing and the resulting firestorm destroyed more than 1,600 acres (6.5 km2) of the city centre. Up to 25,000 people were killed. Three more USAAF air raids followed, two occurring on 2 March aimed at the city's railway marshalling yard and one smaller raid on 17 April aimed at industrial areas.
The Dresden Frauenkirche is a Lutheran church in Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony. Destroyed during the Allied firebombing of Dresden towards the end of World War II, the church was reconstructed between 1994 and 2005.
Günter Blobel was a Silesian German and American biologist and 1999 Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology for the discovery that proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their transport and localization in the cell.
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The architecture of Germany has a long, rich and diverse history. Every major European style from Roman to Postmodern is represented, including renowned examples of Carolingian, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Modern and International Style architecture.
Dresden is a cultural centre in Germany which has influenced the development of European culture. "It is [...] outstanding as a cultural landscape, an ensemble that integrates the celebrated Baroque setting and suburban garden city into an artistic whole within the river valley, and as an example of land use, representing an exceptional development of a major Central-European city."
The Neumarkt is a square and culturally significant section of central Dresden, Germany. The historic area was almost completely wiped out during the Allied bombing during the Second World War. After the war, Dresden fell under Soviet occupation, and later the communist German Democratic Republic, which rebuilt the Neumarkt area in socialist realist style and partially with historic buildings. However, huge areas and parcels of the place remained untilled. After the fall of Communism and German reunification, the decision was made to restore the Neumarkt to its pre-war look.
The Wackerbarth Palace, also known as the Dresdener Ritterakademie, was a palace in Dresden, Germany, built between 1723 and 1729, under the supervision of architect Johann Christoph Knöffel (1686-1752). It was one of the several Baroque palaces in Dresden which were destroyed during the allied bombing raids on February 13, 1945. It was named for August Christoph Graf von Wackerbarth (1662-1734), a Saxon Duke and Field Marshal. The palace was situated in the city, north of the Elbe river, at the former Beaumontplatz near Neustädter Markt.
Reconstruction in architectural conservation is the returning of a place to a known earlier state by the introduction of new materials. It is related to the architectural concepts of restoration and preservation, wherein the most extensive form of reconstruction is creating a replica of a destroyed building.
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The Innere Neustadt is a neighborhood in Dresden within the administrative district of Neustadt. The name is derived from "Neue Königliche Stadt", the name given to the former district of Altendresden when it was rebuilt after a fire before 1732. In contrast to the Äußere Neustadt, the Innere Neustadt was within the city fortifications and, for that reason, is also known as the historic Neustadt. Its population is 7,761 (2020).
The Dresden Panometer is an attraction in Dresden, Germany. It is a venue displaying one of two panoramic paintings of Austrian-born artist Yadegar Asisi inside a former gasometer, accompanied by an exhibition. One of the two panoramas, Baroque Dresden depicts Dresden as it might have appeared in 1756, the other, Dresden 1945 shows the city after it was destroyed during World War II. The Panometer was created in 2006 by Asisi, who coined the name as a portmanteau of "panorama" and "gasometer". In 2003 he had opened a Panometer in Leipzig.
The Foundation for the Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace is a German foundation established by the Government of Germany to create the Humboldt Forum museum in the reconstructed City Palace, Berlin. It works closely with the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media. Following a resolution passed by the German Parliament, the Bundestag, it receives funding from the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development.
Initiated in 2005, the global Henry Hope Reed Award or short Reed Award is given to an individual working outside the practice of architecture who has supported the cultivation of the traditional city, its architecture and art through writing, planning or promotion. It is awarded in conjunction with the Driehaus Architecture Prize at the Notre Dame School of Architecture. It is named in honor of architecture critic Henry Hope Reed Jr.
Nikolaus Gromann was an architect of the German Renaissance who served at the court of John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony. He also worked for John Frederick's descendants residing in the cities of Weimar, Gotha and Altenburg, thus spending more than 30 years in the service of the House of Wettin.
The Kulturpalast Dresden is a modernist building built by Wolfgang Hänsch during the era of the German Democratic Republic. It was the largest multi-purpose hall in Dresden when it opened in 1969, and was used for concerts, dances, conferences and other events. The building underwent several years of reconstruction beginning in 2012 and opened with a new concert hall in April 2017.
The Dreikönigskirche is a Lutheran church located in the Innere Neustadt of Dresden, Germany. It is the centre of a parish, and a community venue called Haus der Kirche. The church is a listed cultural monument of Dresden.
The reconstruction of the Berlin Palace took place from 2013 to 2020, incorporating donor-funded facades and components of the Baroque palace building. In 2002, the German Bundestag decided to partially rebuild the palace, which was demolished in 1950, thus continuing the restoration of Berlin's Historic Center. The three facades, which date back to 1713 and were designed by Andreas Schlüter, were reconstructed with the palace dome by Friedrich August Stüler from 1853. The project was widely discussed in society. According to the decision of the international expert commission in April 2002, the reconstructed palace serves as the seat of the Humboldt Forum.
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