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77-564: The Frauenkirche ( IPA: [ˈfʁaʊənˌkɪʁçə] , Church of Our Lady ) 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. The current structure is the third church building to stand at this site. The earliest was founded as

154-531: A canon emeritus of Coventry Cathedral and a founder of the Dresden Trust, wrote: "The church is to Dresden what St. Paul's is to London". (Referring to St. Paul's Cathedral .) Additional organizations include France's Association Frauenkirche Paris and Switzerland's Verein Schweizer Freunde der Frauenkirch. Rebuilding the church cost €180 million. Dresdner Bank financed more than half of

231-489: A church tax , a surcharge on their normal income tax collected by the states of Germany and passed on to the respective religious body. The structure of the EKD is based on federal principles. Each regional church is responsible for Christian life in its own area while each regional church has its own special characteristics and retains its independence. The EKD carries out joint tasks with which its members have entrusted it. For

308-564: A relief depiction of Jesus ' Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives by Johann Christian Feige , was only partially damaged during the bombing raid and fire that destroyed the church. The altar and the structure behind it, the chancel , were among the remnants left standing. Features of most of the figures were lopped off by falling debris and the fragments lay under the rubble. The building vanished from Dresden's skyline, and

385-655: A Catholic church before being converted to Protestantism during the Reformation . It was replaced in the 18th century by a larger Baroque purpose-built Lutheran building. When its foundation stone was laid on 26 August 1726, it contained a copy of the Augsburg Confession which is primary confession of faith of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Considered an outstanding example of Protestant sacred architecture , it featured one of

462-432: A German-born American, saw the original Church of Our Lady as a boy when his refugee family took shelter in a town just outside Dresden days before the city was bombed. In 1994, he became the founder and president of the nonprofit " Friends of Dresden, Inc. ", a United States organization dedicated to supporting the reconstruction, restoration, and preservation of Dresden's artistic and architectural legacy. In 1999, Blobel won

539-530: A formal meeting of a university See also [ edit ] Congregate (disambiguation) Congregational church , Protestant churches in the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition Qahal , an Israelite organizational structure often translated as 'congregation' Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Congregation . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change

616-689: A split in the 20th century and lost a bulk of its adherents in East Germany due to state atheist policies of the former East German government. After 1990, membership was counted and amounted to around the same number as the Roman Catholic Church. In the 21st century, membership in both the Evangelical Church and the Roman Catholic Church stagnates as more people are becoming religious nones. A 2019 study estimated that there were 114,000 unreported victims of sexual abuse in

693-684: A tourist destination in Dresden. In the first three years, seven million people have visited the church as tourists and to attend worship services. The project has inspired other revitalization projects throughout Europe, including the Dom-Römer Project in Frankfurt , the City Palace of Potsdam , and the City Palace, Berlin . In 2009, US President Barack Obama visited the church after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in

770-591: A year later The Society to Promote the Reconstruction of the Church of Our Lady, which began an aggressive private fund-raising campaign. The organisation grew to over 5,000 members in Germany and 20 other countries. A string of German auxiliary groups were formed, and three promotional organisations were created abroad. The project gathered momentum. As hundreds of architects, art historians and engineers sorted

847-825: Is responsible to aid feeble sister churches, especially in Roman Catholic countries and the Protestant diaspora . It has separate branches internationally, the organization in Austria is still called the Gustav-Adolf-Verein. Brot für die Welt is responsible for international development aid. The umbrella of the Protestant Church in Germany comprises 20 regional churches: These bodies are termed Landeskirchen ("Regional Churches") though in most cases, their territories do not correspond to

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924-511: Is the representative and governing body of the Protestant Church in Germany. The Council of the EKD has 15 members jointly elected by the Synod and Church Conference who serve terms of six years. The chairperson of the Council is the church's highest representative. The Church Conference is where member churches, through the representatives of their governing boards, can directly participate in

1001-564: The Anglican or Roman Catholic churches, however, else there is no common hierarchy supervising the member churches, who are legally independent equals with the EKD being their umbrella. Members of congregations within the member churches – like those of parishes within Catholic dioceses and those enrolled in Jewish congregations also enjoying statutory corporation status – are required to pay

1078-489: The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover and Chairperson of the Council of the EKD from 2009 until February 2010, was the first woman to head the EKD. Blessings of same-sex marriages is practised and allowed in 14 of 20 and Blessing of same-sex unions are allowed in all other member churches. The EKD opposes abortion in most situations but believes it should remain legal. The EKD has undergone

1155-687: The German Revolution , with the formation of the Weimar Republic and the abdication of the princes of the German states. The system of state churches disappeared with the Weimar Constitution (1919), which brought about disestablishment by the separation of church and state , and there was a desire for the Protestant churches to merge. In fact, a merger was permanently under discussion but never materialised due to strong regional self-confidence and traditions as well as

1232-557: The Grünes Gewölbe . Architectural historian Mark Jarzombek complained that unidentifiable parts of the ruins were placed in arbitrary locations in the new building. As a result, he said, the socialist monument to the bombing was, in essence, dispersed throughout the fabric of the building. Protestant Church in Germany Historically, the first formal attempt to unify German Protestantism occurred during

1309-688: The Nobel Prize for medicine and donated the entire amount of his award money (nearly US$ 1 million) to the organization for the restoration of Dresden, to the rebuilding of the Frauenkirche and the building of a new synagogue . It was the single largest individual donation to the project. In Britain, the Dresden Trust has Prince Edward, Duke of Kent , as its royal patron and the Bishop of Coventry among its curators. Dr. Paul Oestreicher ,

1386-595: The Weimar Republic era in the form of the German Protestant Church Confederation , which existed from 1922 until 1933. Earlier, there had been successful royal efforts at unity in various German states, beginning with Prussia and several minor German states (e.g. Duchy of Nassau ) in 1817. These unions resulted in the first united and uniting churches, a new development within Protestantism which later spread to other parts of

1463-517: The government region of Stuttgart . The vast majority of German Protestants belong to a member church of the EKD. With 20,236,000 members in 2020, around 24.3 percent of all Germans belong to a member church of the EKD. Average church attendance is lower, however, with only around a million people (1.2 % of all Germans) attending a service on Sunday. The regional Protestant church bodies accept each other as equals, despite denominational differences. No member church runs congregations or churches in

1540-712: The mainline . English speaking churches such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada likewise retain this use of the term. From the Peace of Augsburg in 1555 to the end of the First World War and the collapse of the German Empire , some Protestant churches were state churches . Each Landeskirche (state or regional church) was the official church of one of

1617-407: The reunification of Germany , it was decided to rebuild the church, starting in 1994. The reconstruction of its exterior was completed in 2004, and the interior the following year. The church was reconsecrated on 30 October 2005 with festive services lasting through the Protestant observance of Reformation Day on 31 October. The surrounding Neumarkt square with its many valuable baroque buildings

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1694-731: The states of Germany , while the respective ruler was the church's formal head (e.g. the King of Prussia headed the Evangelical Church of Prussia's older Provinces as supreme governor), similar to the British monarch 's role as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England . This changed somewhat with growing religious freedom in the 19th century, especially in the republican states of Bremen , Frankfurt (1857), Lübeck , and Hamburg (1860). The greatest change came after

1771-691: The "Frauenkirche Foundation Dresden", with the reconstruction backed by the State of Saxony , the City of Dresden and the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Saxony . The new golden tower cross was funded officially by "the British people and the House of Windsor". It was made by the British silversmith company Grant Macdonald of which the main craftsman on the project was Alan Smith whose father

1848-475: The BEK merged with the EKD. While the members are no longer state churches, they enjoy constitutional protection as statutory corporations , and they are still called Landeskirchen , and some have this term in their official names. A modern English translation, however, would be regional church . Apart from some minor changes, the territories of the member churches today reflect Germany's political organisation in

1925-670: The Catholic Church Congregation (group of houses) , in some religious orders of the Catholic Church Music [ edit ] The Congregation (band) , an English pop group Congregation (The Afghan Whigs album) , 1992, and its title song Congregation (Kerbdog album) , 2014 The Congregation (Johnny Griffin album) , 1957 The Congregation (Leprous album) , 2015 "Congregation" (song) , by Foo Fighters, 2014 Other uses [ edit ] Congregation (university) ,

2002-692: The EKD synod , but they act as individual members of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE). Boundaries of EKD churches within Germany partially resemble those of the states of the Holy Roman Empire and successor forms of German statehood (to the most part 1815 borders ), due to the historically close relationship between individual German states and churches. As for church governance,

2079-464: The EKD and the Catholic Church in Germany combined. The 95% confidence interval comprises 28,000 to 280,000 victims. According to a study published in 2024, pedophilic members of the EKD have sexually abused at least 9,355 minors since 1946. Putting this figure into context, the coordinator of the study clarified that this number of cases was only the tip of the iceberg. The average age of

2156-538: The German word evangelisch means "of the Gospel", denoting a Reformation emphasis on sola scriptura , "by scripture alone". Martin Luther encouraged the use of this term alongside Christian . The German term evangelisch corresponds to the broad English category of Protestant rather than to the narrower evangelical movement (in German called evangelikal ), a subset of Protestantism distinct from

2233-731: The Lutheran churches typically practise an episcopal polity , while the Reformed and the United ones a mixture of presbyterian and congregationalist polities. Most member churches are led by a (state) bishop . Only one member church, the Evangelical Reformed Church in Germany , is not restricted to a certain territory. In some ways, the other member churches resemble dioceses of the Catholic and Anglican churches, from an organisational point of view. Etymologically,

2310-529: The Nazi struggle of the churches . This turned the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union into a mere umbrella, being itself a member of EKD (and the BEK, 1969–1991) but covering some regional church bodies, which were again themselves members of EKD (and the BEK, 1969–1991). Since 1973, when many Protestant churches in Europe, including the EKD members, concluded the Leuenberg Agreement , also

2387-638: The Nazi regime's ideology. After the installation of Hanns Kerrl as minister for church matters in a Führer-directive of 16 July 1935 and the foundation of the – in the end not materialising – Protestant Reich Church , the DEK played more or less no further role. In 1948, freed from the German Christians' influence, the Lutheran, Reformed (including the German Reformed Church / Reformierte Kirche ) and United churches came together as

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2464-687: The Protestant Church in Germany at the Conference of Eisenach. In 1969, the regional Protestant churches in East Germany and East Berlin broke away from the EKD and formed the League of Evangelical Churches in the German Democratic Republic (German: Bund der Evangelischen Kirchen in der DDR , BEK), in 1970 also joined by the Moravian Herrnhut District. In June 1991, following German reunification ,

2541-580: The aircrews who took part in the bombing of Dresden. Before travelling to Dresden, the cross was exhibited for five years in churches across the United Kingdom including Coventry Cathedral , Liverpool Cathedral , St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh , and St Paul's Cathedral in London. In February 2000, the cross was ceremonially handed over by Prince Edward, Duke of Kent , to be placed on the top of

2618-556: The area of another member church, thus preventing competing with each other for parishioners. The only exception is the Evangelical Reformed Church, which combines Reformed congregations within the ambits of usually Lutheran member churches, which themselves do not include the eventual local Reformed congregations. Thus, for example, a Lutheran moving from a place where their parish belongs to a Lutheran member church, would be accepted in their new place of domicile by

2695-407: The blackened stones would lie in wait in a pile in the centre of the city for the next 45 years as Communist rule enveloped what was now East Germany . Shortly after the end of World War II, residents of Dresden had already begun salvaging unique stone fragments from the Church of Our Lady and numbering them for future use in reconstruction. Popular sentiment discouraged the authorities from clearing

2772-486: The bombings, has been restored and again stands in front of the church. It is the work of sculptor Adolf von Donndorf from 1885. There are two devotional services every day and two liturgies every Sunday. Since October 2005, there has been an exhibition on the history and reconstruction of the Frauenkirche at the Stadtmuseum (City Museum) in Dresden's Alten Landhaus. Since re-opening, the Church of Our Lady has been

2849-475: The church. Other Protestant churches aligned themselves with one of these groups, or stayed neutral in this church strife. The postwar church council issued the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt on 19 October 1945, confessing guilt and declaring remorse for indifference and inaction of German Protestants in the face of atrocities committed by Hitler's regime. In 1948, the Protestant Church in Germany

2926-538: The church. The organ was dedicated on 25 November and Johann Sebastian Bach gave a recital on the instrument on 1 December. The church's most distinctive feature was its unconventional high dome, 67 metres (220 ft) high, called die Steinerne Glocke or "Stone Bell". An engineering feat comparable to Michelangelo 's dome for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome , the Frauenkirche's 12,000-ton sandstone dome stood high resting on eight slender supports. Despite initial doubts,

3003-591: The churches' relationship with the new governments improved. It was realised that one mainstream Protestant church for all of Germany was impossible and that any union would need a federal model. The churches met in Dresden in 1919 and created a plan for federation, and this plan was adopted in 1921 at Stuttgart . Then in 1922 the then 28 territorially defined Protestant churches founded the German Evangelical Church Confederation ( Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchenbund , DEK). At

3080-486: The citizenry. Even though Saxony 's Prince-elector , Frederick August I , had converted to Catholicism to become King of Poland , he supported the construction which not only gave an impressive cupola to the Dresden townscape but also reassured the Saxonians that their ruler was not going to force the principle cuius regio, eius religio upon them. The original Baroque church was built between 1726 and 1743, and

3157-517: The city of Dresden in 2006. The church was reconsecrated with a festive service one day before Reformation Day . The rebuilt church is a monument reminding people of its history and a symbol of hope and reconciliation. As far as possible, the church – except for its dome – was rebuilt using original material and plans, with the help of modern technology. The heap of rubble was documented and carried off stone by stone. The approximate original position of each stone could be determined from its position in

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3234-517: The current federal states , but rather to former duchies, electorates and provinces or mergers thereof. The Moravian Church ("Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine") and the Federation of Evangelical Reformed Congregations are associate members. International churches Gates 1. Jaffa 2. Zion 3. Dung 4. Golden 5. Lions 6. Herod 7. Damascus 8. New ( Double, Single, Tanners ' ) Al-Mawazin congregation From Misplaced Pages,

3311-525: The denominational fragmentation into Lutheran , Reformed , and United and uniting churches . During the Revolution, when the old church governments lost power, the People's Church Union ( Volkskirchenbund ) was formed and advocated unification without respect to theological tradition and also increasing input from laymen . However, the People's Church Union quickly split along territorial lines after

3388-476: The desire to rebuild the church. However, due to political circumstances in East Germany , the reconstruction came to a halt. The heap of ruins was conserved as a war memorial within the inner city of Dresden, as a direct counterpart to the ruins of Coventry Cathedral , which was destroyed by German bombing in 1940 and also serves as a war memorial in the United Kingdom . Because of the continuing decay of

3465-441: The dome a few days after the 60th commemoration of D-Day on 22 June 2004. The external structure of the Frauenkirche was completed. For the first time since the last war, the completed dome and its gilded cross grace Dresden's skyline as in centuries prior. The cross that once topped the dome, now twisted and charred, stands to the right of the new altar. Builders decided not to reproduce the 1736 Gottfried Silbermann organ, despite

3542-544: The dome proved to be extremely stable. Witnesses in 1760 said that the dome had been hit by more than 100 cannonballs fired by the Prussian army led by Friedrich II during the Seven Years' War . The projectiles bounced off and the church survived. The completed church gave the city of Dresden a distinctive silhouette, captured in famous paintings by Bernardo Bellotto , a nephew of the artist Canaletto (also known by

3619-425: The execution of these tasks, the Church has the following governing bodies, all organised and elected on democratic lines: The Synod is the legislature of the EKD. It has 126 members: 106 elected by Landeskirchen synods and 20 appointed by the council. These 20 are appointed for their importance in the life of the Church and its agencies. Members serve six year terms and the synod meets annually. The EKD Council

3696-513: The fact that the original design papers, description, and details exist, giving rise to the Dresden organ dispute (" Dresdner Orgelstreit "). When installed, the Silbermann organ had three manuals with 43 ranks and over the years had been remodeled and expanded to five manuals with 80 ranks. Daniel Kern of Strasbourg , Alsace , completed a 4,873 pipe organ for the structure in April 2005 and it

3773-559: The 💕 [REDACTED] Look up congregation  or kehilla in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Congregation may refer to: Religion [ edit ] Church (congregation) , a religious organization that meets in a particular location Congregation (Roman Curia) , an administrative body of the Catholic Church Religious congregation , a type of religious institute in

3850-422: The heap. Every usable piece was measured and catalogued. A computer imaging program that could move the stones three-dimensionally around the screen in various configurations was used to help architects find where the original stones sat and how they fit together. Of the millions of stones used in the rebuilding, more than 8,500 original stones were salvaged from the original church and approximately 3,800 reused in

3927-414: The heat generated by some 650,000 incendiary bombs that were dropped on the city. The temperature surrounding and inside the church eventually reached 1,000 °C (1,830 °F). The dome finally collapsed at 10 a.m. on 15 February. The pillars glowed bright red and exploded; the outer walls shattered and nearly 6,000 tons of stone plunged to earth, penetrating the massive floor as it fell. The altar ,

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4004-464: The largest domes in Europe. It was originally built as a sign of the will of the citizens of Dresden to remain Protestant after their ruler had converted to Catholicism. Having been reconstructed, it now also serves as a symbol of reconciliation between former warring enemies. After the destruction of the church in 1945, the remaining ruins were left for nearly half a century as a war memorial, following decisions of local East German leaders. Following

4081-406: The locally competent congregation within another member church, even if this church and its local parish are Reformed or of united Protestant confession, with Lutheran being exchangeable with the two other respective Protestant confessions within the EKD. This is due to full altar and pulpit fellowship between all EKD member churches. In this the ambits of the member churches resemble dioceses of

4158-461: The quality of the mortar or pigments of the paint (as in the 18th century, copious quantities of eggs were used to make the color that provides the interior with its almost luminescent glow). When it came time to duplicate the oak doors of the entrance, the builders had only vague descriptions of the detailed carving. Because people (especially wedding parties) often posed for photos outside the church doors, they issued an appeal for old photographs and

4235-484: The reconstruction costs via a "donor certificates campaign", collecting almost €70 million after 1995. The bank itself contributed more than seven million Euros, including more than one million donated by its employees. Over the years, thousands of watches containing tiny fragments of Church of Our Lady stone were sold, as were specially printed medals. One sponsor raised nearly €2.3 million through symbolic sales of individual church stones. Funds raised were turned over to

4312-456: The reconstruction. As the older stones are covered with a darker patina , due to fire damage and weathering, the difference between old and new stones will be clearly visible for many years after reconstruction. Two thousand pieces of the original altar were cleaned and incorporated into the new structure. The builders relied on thousands of old photographs, memories of worshippers and church officials, and crumbling old purchase orders detailing

4389-413: The response – which included entire wedding albums – allowed artisans to recreate the original doors. The new gilded orb and cross on top of the dome was forged by Grant Macdonald Silversmiths in London using the original 18th-century techniques as much as possible. It was constructed by Alan Smith, a British goldsmith from London whose father, Frank, was a member of one of

4466-406: The ruins away to make a car park. In 1966, the remnants were officially declared a "memorial against war", and state-controlled commemorations were held there on the anniversaries of the destruction of Dresden. In 1982, the ruins began to be the site of a peace movement combined with peaceful protests against the East German regime. On the anniversary of the bombing, 400 citizens of Dresden came to

4543-450: The ruins in silence with flowers and candles, part of a growing East German civil rights movement . By 1989, the number of protesters in Dresden, Leipzig , and other parts of East Germany had increased to tens of thousands. On 9 November 1989, the Berlin Wall "fell" and the inner German border dividing East and West Germany toppled. This opened the way to German reunification . During the last months of World War II, residents expressed

4620-417: The ruins, Dresden leaders decided in 1985 (after the Semperoper was finally finished) to rebuild the Church of Our Lady after the completion of the reconstruction of Dresden Castle . The reunification of Germany , brought new life to the reconstruction plans. In 1989, a 14-member group of enthusiasts headed by Ludwig Güttler , a noted Dresden musician, formed a Citizens' Initiative. From that group emerged

4697-409: The same name), and in Dresden by Moonlight (1839) by Norwegian painter Johan Christian Dahl . In 1849, the church was at the heart of the revolutionary disturbances known as the May Uprising . It was surrounded by barricades, and fighting lasted for days before those rebels who had not already fled were rounded up in the church and arrested. For more than 200 years, the bell-shaped dome stood over

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4774-432: The skyline of old Dresden, dominating the city. Burials include Heinrich Schütz and George Bähr . On 13 February 1945, Allied forces began the bombing of Dresden in World War II . The church withstood two days and nights of the attacks, and the eight interior sandstone pillars supporting the large dome held up long enough for the evacuation of 300 people who had sought shelter in the church crypt, before succumbing to

4851-555: The then 21 EKD members introduced full communion for their parishioners and ministry among each other. Since also the regional Protestant churches in East Germany had signed the Leuenberg Agreement, thus the then ten members of the Federation of Protestant Churches in the German Democratic Republic practised full communion with the EKD members too. Ordination of women is practised in all 20 member churches with many women having been ordained in recent years. There are also several women serving as bishops. Margot Käßmann , former bishop of

4928-409: The thousands of stones, identifying and labeling each for reuse in the new structure, others worked to raise money. IBM provided a key element by contracting with RTI International, a nonprofit research institute in Research Triangle Park NC to create an interactive virtual reality representation of the Church. The VR drew donations large and small, helping to make the project possible. Günter Blobel ,

5005-417: The time, the federation was the largest Protestant church federation in Europe with around 40 million members. Because it was a federation of independent bodies, the Church Union's work was limited to foreign missions and relations with Protestant churches outside Germany, especially German Protestants in other countries. In July 1933, the German Evangelical Church ( Deutsche Evangelische Kirche , DEK)

5082-501: The victims is 11 years. Confessions of EKD parishioners Protestantism is the major religion in Northern , Eastern and Middle Germany , with the Reformed branch predominating in the extreme northwest and Lippe , the Lutheran branch in the north and south, and the United branch in Middle and Western Germany . While the majority of Christians in Southern Germany are Catholic , some areas in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria are predominantly Protestant, e.g. Middle Franconia and

5159-434: The work of the EKD. The Church Office is the administration of the EKD and shall the business of the Synod, Council and Conference of the EKD. Main divisions : The EKD Church Office has approximately 200 employees. The EKD holds various charities ("Hilfswerke") under its auspices. The Gustav-Adolf-Werk (GAW) (Gustaphus Adolphus Union formerly) was founded 1832 in Leipzig as the first and eldest such organization and

5236-401: The world. When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, his administration tried to reorganize the old confederation into a unified German Evangelical Church as Hitler wanted to use a single Protestant church to further his own ambitions. However, a division emerged between the Reichskirche , led by the pro-government German Christians , and the Confessing Church , which opposed state control of

5313-424: The year 1848, with regional churches for states or provinces that often no longer exist or whose borders changed since. For example, between 1945 and 1948, the remaining six ecclesiastical provinces ( Kirchenprovinzen ), each territorially comprising one of the Old Prussia provinces , within the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union assumed independence as a consequence of the estrangement among them during

5390-409: Was also reconstructed in 2004. The Frauenkirche is often called a cathedral, but it is not the seat of a bishop; the church of the Landesbischof of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Saxony is the Church of the Cross . Once a month, an Anglican Evensong is held in English, by clergy from St. George's Anglican Church, Berlin . A church dedicated to 'Our Lady' (Kirche zu unser Liebfrauen)

5467-420: Was completed in 1996 and the inner cupola in 2000. Seven new bells were cast for the church and rang for the first time for the Pentecost celebration in 2003. The exterior was completed ahead of schedule in 2004 and the interior painted in 2005. The intensive efforts to rebuild this world-famous landmark were completed in 2005, one year earlier than originally planned, and in time for the 800-year anniversary of

5544-417: Was designed by Dresden's city architect, George Bähr , who did not live to see the completion of his greatest work. Bähr's distinctive design for the church captured the new spirit of the Protestant liturgy by placing the altar , pulpit , and baptismal font directly centre in view of the entire congregation . In 1736, famed organ maker Gottfried Silbermann built a three-manual, 43-stop instrument for

5621-557: Was first built in the 11th century in a Romanesque style , outside the city walls and surrounded by a graveyard. The Frauenkirche was the seat of an archpriest in the Meissen Diocese until the Reformation, when it became a Protestant church. This first Frauenkirche was torn down in 1727 and replaced by a new, larger church with a greater capacity. The Frauenkirche was re-built as a Lutheran ( Protestant ) parish church by

5698-531: Was formed under the influence of the German Christians , a pro- Nazi religious movement. They had much influence over the decisions of the first National Synod , via their unambiguous partisanship in successfully backing Ludwig Müller for the office of Reich bishop. He did not manage, however, to prevail over the Landeskirchen in the long term. The Confessing Church arose in resistance to

5775-496: Was inaugurated in October of that year; Samuel Kummer was the organist until 2022. The Kern organ contains all the stops which were in the Silbermann organ and attempts to recreate their sounds. The Kern work contains 68 stops and a fourth swell manual in the symphonic 19th century style which is apt for the organ literature composed after the baroque period. A bronze statue of reformer and theologian Martin Luther , which survived

5852-607: Was one of the bomber pilots responsible for the destruction of the church. Using original plans from builder Georg Bähr in the 1720s, the Dresden City Council decided to proceed with reconstruction in February 1992. A rubble-sorting ceremony started the event in January 1993 under the direction of church architect and engineer Eberhard Burger . The foundation stone was laid in 1994, and stabilized in 1995. The crypt

5929-643: Was organized in the aftermath of World War II to function as a new umbrella organization for German Protestant churches. As a result of tensions between West and East Germany , the regional churches in East Germany broke away from the EKD in 1969. In 1991, following German reunification , the East German churches re-joined the EKD. The member churches ( Gliedkirchen ), while being independent and having their own theological and formal organisation, share full altar and pulpit fellowship , and are united in

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