Dresden Cathedral Reopens, 60 Years After the Bombs

Longtime readers might recall that while on vacation I saw a televised concert in the Dresden Cathedral to benefit its reconstruction. The Washington Post ran this Associated Press report of its rededication last Sunday.

For 47 years, Dresden residents had known the Frauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady, as a 43-foot-high mound of rubble flanked by two jagged walls. That was all that remained after British and U.S. planes strafed the city with firebombs on the night of Feb. 13-14, 1945.

My vicarious experience of which was reading Slaughterhouse Five in college. Seems like an odd use of strafe.

... Part of the church's uniqueness is its round structure, the pews fanning out from the altar in a circle like ripples from a stone thrown into water.