The Frauenkirche, a Lutheran church, stood as a pile of rubble from 1945 to 1990. Architect Georg Bähr designed it between 1726 and 1743, calling the sandstone dome his "Stone Bell."

On the night of February 13, 1945, Allied bombers rained down on Dresden. A firestorm of cyclonic proportions killed 25,000 people. The church collapsed. For decades, Martin Luther's statue stood alone on a vast, empty square beside the heap of wreckage.

Reconstruction began after reunification, funded by private donations. Many came from individuals in the nations that bombed Dresden. The church was restored by 2005, triggering the rebuilding of the entire Neumarkt area around it. You can still see the patched appearance: darker stones are original, lighter ones new.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours explain why the square looked like Canaletto painted it in 1750 but became a wasteland by 1945, trace the communist decision to rebuild baroque Dresden, and reveal the Coselpalais connection to August the Strong's banished lover.