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Sophienkirche
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The Sophienkirche ( Saint Sophia's Church), Dresden stood on the northeast corner of the Postplatzes, post office, Plaza in Dresden's old town, before its destruction by the allied bombing raids on February 13th 1945. It was the only Gothic Church in the city.
250 the The Order of Friars Minor, Franciscans, built a monastery and small church at the location of the future Sophienkirche. Starting in 1331 the original structure was demolished and a larger church started construction with two identical choir areas included.
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The Sophienkirche ( Saint Sophia's Church), Dresden stood on the northeast corner of the Postplatzes, post office, Plaza in Dresden's old town, before its destruction by the allied bombing raids on February 13th 1945. It was the only Gothic Church in the city.
History
In 1250 the The Order of Friars Minor, Franciscans, built a monastery and small church at the location of the future Sophienkirche. Starting in 1331 the original structure was demolished and a larger church started construction with two identical choir areas included. At the southeast corner of the new church, a private chapel was built by the founding family Busmann around 1400 to which the Dresden Mayor, at the time, Lorenz Busmann was a member and also later buried there.
After the Reformation, the Sophienkirche stood empty for decades before for it was revived in 1610 and reopened by Sophie von Brandenburg as a Lutheran church. Starting in 1737 it served as a Evangelist Church.
Silbermann Pipe Organ & Bach
Between the years 1718 to 1720 famed pipe organ maker Gottfried Silbermann installed one of only 50 manufactured Silbermann Pipe Organs, known for their clear Meantone temperament, into the Sophienkirche.
Bach's Kyrie and Gloria were composed in 1733, the former as a lament for the decease of Elector Augustus the Strong (who had died on 1 Feb 1733) and the latter to celebrate the accession of his successor the Saxon Elector and later Polish King Augustus III of Poland, who converted to Catholicism in order to ascend the throne of Poland. Bach presented these as a Missa with a set of parts (Kyrie plus Gloria, BWV 232a) to Augustus with a note dates 27th July 1733, in the hope of obtaining the title, "Electoral Saxon Court Composer", complaining that he had "innocently suffered one injury or another" in Leipzig. They were performed in 1733, most likely at the Sophienkirche in Dresden, where Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach son, had been organist since June, though not in the presence of their dedicatees. However in 1734, Bach performed a secular cantata dramma per musica in honour of Augustus in the presence of the King and Queen whose first movement was the same music as the Osanna
February 13, 1945
The bombing of Dresden by the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and United States Army Air Force (USAAF) between February 13 and February 15, 1945, 12 weeks before the surrender of the German Wehrmacht, remains one of the most controversial Allied actions of the Second World War. The raids saw 1,300 heavy bombers drop over 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices in under 15 hours, destroying of the city, the baroque capital of the German state of Saxony, and causing a firestorm that consumed the city centre. Estimates of civilian casualties vary greatly, but recent publications place the figure between 24,000 and 40,000.Destroyed in the bombing were the Sophienkirche, along with many other historical buildings. The Sophienkirche was gutted by the fire which resulted from the bombing, including the Silbermann Pipe Organ. However, the ceiling and walls remained intact until 1946, when the weight of the vaulted ceiling, with out the reinforcement of the internal support columns, which were destroyed by the fire, collapsed leaving only the south spires standing until their intentional destruction in 1950.
Aftermath
Gradually the ruins around the destroyed church were cleared. A reconstruction would have been quite possible, however the SED, which was in charge of the reconstruction of Dresden starting in 1950, doomed the church with a comment by Walter Ulbricht, the party chief of the SED, : "…a socialist city does not need gothic churches".
Despite large protests by Dresden monument conservators, architects and citizens, the remains of the church were destroyed in 1962 on resolution of the party and government of the GDR, German Democratic Republic.
On May 1, 1963 the last parts of the oldest Dresden town church disappeared -- up to a partial destroyed sandstone framework of a church windows, which were stored in the catacombs under the Brühl's Terrace.
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