Neumarkt (Dresden)

Coordinates: 51°03′06″N 13°44′25″E / 51.05167°N 13.74028°E / 51.05167; 13.74028
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Dresden Neumarkt in spring 2008
The quarters of Dresden's Neumarkt area

The Neumarkt is a

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.

History

Due to its location on a slight rise above the flood-prone

Elbe River, the Neumarkt was one of the first areas of Dresden's old city to be settled, with a small village arising around the old Frauenkirche. However, it was not actually located within the city walls until the city was expanded in 1530, from which point on, the old town contained two market squares. The square located around the Kreuzkirche
was renamed Altmarkt (German for "Old Market"), and the square surrounding the Frauenkirche was named the Neumarkt ("New Market").

During the reign of

August II the Strong, a great number of structures in Dresden were built in Baroque style, including the present-day Frauenkirche, and numerous other houses surrounding the Neumarkt. After damage sustained to buildings through artillery fire in the Seven Years' War, a number of structures on the Neumarkt were rebuilt in the Rococo/Late Baroque
style.

During the 19th century and into the early 20th century, the Neumarkt remained largely unchanged, except for renovations to the

Johanneum completed in 1873 and the construction of the Albertinum and Academy of Fine Arts
completed at the end of the 1800s.

Bombing of Dresden and communist era

During the

German Democratic Republic, the Neumarkt and Altmarkt formed a mostly vacant area through the middle of the old city, save for the ruins of the Frauenkirche standing as a memorial to the horrors of war. The two squares were separated by the widened Wilsdruffer Strasse, then from 1969 by the Palace of Culture
, and then later by new apartment blocks.

Reconstruction

Dresden Frauenkirche in 2005 marked the first step in rebuilding the Neumarkt. Organisations such as the Dresden Historical Neumarkt Society (GHND) actively encourage an historically-faithful reconstruction of the structures around the Neumarkt, giving an outward appearance as close as possible to that from before 1945.[1]

The areas around the square have been divided into eight "quarters", with each being rebuilt as a separate project, the majority of buildings to be rebuilt either to the original structure or at least with a facade similar to the original.

Quarter III and quarter VII/1 are currently (2020) under construction. All other quarters have been completed.

Controversy and criticism

The reconstruction of the structures surrounding the Neumarkt has created some controversy, with architecture critic Andreas Ruby criticising the attempt to reconstruct the historic character of the city as inauthentic, likening it to the recreation of Venice to be found at the

Venetian Resort Hotel in Las Vegas.[2]

There has also been extensive debate as to what extent contemporary architecture should be present on the rebuilt Neumarkt.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ "Architecture classical: Society for the Rebuilding of the Historical Neumarkt Dresden". Archived from the original on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2011-06-08.
  2. ^ "ZEIT ONLINE | Lesen Sie zeit.de mit Werbung oder im PUR-Abo. Sie haben die Wahl".

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Neumarkt (Dresden).

51°03′06″N 13°44′25″E / 51.05167°N 13.74028°E / 51.05167; 13.74028

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