Reconstruction

In the first years after the war, the city centre was cleared of the enormous masses of rubble, with the assistance of tens of thousands of volunteer helpers. At the start of the 1950s, reconstruction began with residential and representative buildings in the city centre.

The reconstruction of selected architectural monuments was also forced ahead from the very beginning: the reconstruction of the Zwinger was completed in 1964. Further important buildings, such as the Court Church, Johanneum, Albertinum, the Royal Mews and, in 1985, the Semper Opera House, were also restored, though at the same time the valuable remains of other monuments were demolished.

Despite certain important successes, the later exclusive devotion to industrial construction technologies and increasing economic difficulties left the reconstruction of the city overall incomplete and unsatisfactory.