The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia (long name, I know) feels like it…
Vienna is the capital and largest city in Austria, and as of 2001, the entire town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has been named the “City of Music” or the “The City of Dreams” and for good reason. Vienna is home to some of the most interesting architectural masterpieces in Europe.
The Dresden Frauenkirche or Church of Our Lady in one of the grandest buildings in all of Europe, but it is its destruction, and reconstruction is to me, what makes this church stand out. The interior and overall design aren’t in my top ten but the story behind, literally, every stone, is one I will never forget.
This building was always critical to the Catholic people of Dresden. After Augustus the II converted to the Protestant church, his son, seeing that the large Catholic population of his country needed a place of prayer, commission the construction of this church in 1738. Although like the rest of Dresden, the building was almost destroyed in WWII, the valuables such as the organ and altar pieces were saved and reintroduced into the restored church to bring together the original and restored church. The new church is built to the specs of the original using photography and first-hand experience to get all the details just right.
