Dresden Church Rises From the Ruins After 60 Years

Restoration work on one of Germany's most famous baroque churches was completed yesterday nearly 60 years after allied bombers destroyed it in the second world war.

In a symbol of reconciliation between Britain and Germany, the exterior of the Frauenkirche or Church of our Lady in Dresden was unveiled with a new British-designed cupola.

A crane hauled the cupola and gold cross into position atop the church's flamboyantly rococo 78-metre (255ft) high dome.

The original 18th-century building collapsed on February 15 1945 during a firestorm after one of the most destructive allied air raids of the final months of the war, which killed 35,000 people.

East Germany's communist rulers left the church in ruins, viewing it as a reminder of the horrors of war and fascist tyranny. But after German reunification work on clearing the rubble began in 1994.

The orb and cross, a replica of the one which graced the Dresden skyline from 1743 to 1945, was commissioned by the Dresden Trust, a British group.

It is estimated that some 600,000 German civilians died during allied raids over Germany, including 76,000 children.