50 Fascinating Pics Capture Street Scenes of Dresden, Germany in the Late 1980s

Dresden is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and the state's second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth largest by area after Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne, as well as the third most populous city in the area of former East Germany, after (East) Berlin and Leipzig.

Dresden is contiguous with Freital, Pirna, Radebeul, Meissen and Coswig. It is the second largest city on the River Elbe after Hamburg. Most of Dresden's population lives in the Elbe Valley, but a large, albeit very sparsely populated area of the city east of the Elbe lies in the West Lusatian Hill Country and Uplands (the westernmost part of the Sudetes) and thus in Lusatia, while many boroughs west of the Elbe lie in the foreland of the Ore Mountains as well as in the valleys of the rivers rising there and flowing through Dresden, the longest of which are the Weißeritz and the Lockwitzbach.

Since German reunification in 1990, Dresden is again a cultural, educational and political centre of Germany and Europe. The Dresden University of Technology is one of the 10 largest universities in Germany and part of the German Universities Excellence Initiative. The economy of Dresden and its agglomeration is one of the most dynamic in Germany and ranks first in Saxony.

Just before German reunification, these fascinating photos were captured by Sludge G that show what Dresden looked like in 1988 and 1989.

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The First Spherical Building in the World: 16 Amazing Photos of the “Ball House” Kugelhaus in Dresden From the Late 1920s

The Kugelhaus (Ball House) was a spherical steel scaffolding construction in Dresden on the exhibition grounds in the Großer Garten between the exhibition palace and Hercules Avenue. It was designed by Peter Birkenholz (1876–1961) in 1928 at the former Stübelplatz, as developed by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux in his French revolutionary architecture.

Plans were laid to build a row of them, like a galaxy of planets in orbit. That was the spirit of the age. Very “futurist”. It hosted exhibition rooms and a restaurant business and is considered the first ever spherical building in the world. Described by Nazi press as “degenerate art to be destroyed” and “un-German”, the building only stood for 10 years and was demolished in 1938.

The Kugelhaus was part of the annual exhibition Deutscher Arbeit - Die Technische Stadt in 1928 and had a diameter of 24 meters. The spherical body was mounted on a neck of 11.5 meters in diameter and 4 meters in height. The total height of the building was 26.5 meters, with a built-up area of ​​only 110 square meters, the enclosed space was 7600 cubic meters.

There were six levels and a passenger elevator. In the building one could look upwards or downwards through a circular, atrium-like opening. Only the top floor with the restaurant had a closed floor space. The window front of the restaurant allowed a good view of the nearby exhibition area.

The load-bearing structure of the building was built in steel skeleton construction. The metallic outer skin was made of aluminum sheet. The ball house was designed and built by MAN’s Gustavsburg plant .

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Interesting Then and Now Photos of Dresden 70 Years Ago, After the Firebombing

In the last months of World War II, Allied bombers from the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force conducted several major bombing raids on the eastern German city of Dresden. Beginning on the night of February 13, 1945, more than 1,200 heavy bombers dropped nearly 4,000 tons of high-explosive and incendiary bombs on the city in four successive raids. An estimated 25,000 people were killed in the bombings and the firestorm that raged afterward. More than 75,000 dwellings were destroyed, along with unique monuments of Baroque architecture in the historic city center.

On the 70th anniversary of the devastating raids, Getty Images' photographer Sean Gallup has revisited the sites of historic photographs of Dresden and digitally merged them with present day scenes.

A statue on the tower of City Hall looking down at the ruins of the city centre (Richard Peter senior, Archive Photos) and the same scene on 12 February 2015.

Moritzstrasse and the Juedenhof palace in 1946 (Fred Ramage, Keystone) and the same area on 7 February 2015.

The ruins at Theaterplatz square in 1946 (Fred Ramage, Keystone) and the square today, including the Catholic Hofkirche church (C) and Residenzschloss Dresden palace (R), on 7 February 2015.

The ruins of the Frauenkirche church and the empty pedestal for a statue of Martin Luther in 1946 (William Vandevert, The LIFE Picture Collection) and the reconstructed church and statue on 22 January 2015.

The ruins of the city centre, including Prager Strasse (The Evening Standard) and the same view on 7 February 2015.

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