Word: semper
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Dates: during 1970-1970
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Before the last note of Der Rosenkavalier could be sung at Architect Gottfried Semper's century-old opera house that night, the first wave of bombers thundered over the lovely cupolas, towers and spires of the doomed city. In the next 14 hours, 1,400 British Lancasters and American Flying Fortresses dropped 3,749 tons of explosives. Some 650,000 incendiary bombs created a swirling "firestorm" that sucked everything around it into the inferno's center. Columns of smoke plumed three miles into the glowing sky as the city burned for eight nights. Corpses, some shrunk...
...first task in the reconstruction was restoring the Baroque 18th century Zwinger (literally, the Keep). In 1946, 150 master stonemasons went to work; it took them 16 years to complete the job. Alongside the Zwinger, Semper's famous Gemaldegalerie (Art Gallery) once again exhibits Raphael's Sistine Madonna, twelve Rembrandts (including his Portrait of Saskia), 1 6 Rubenses, five Titians and two Vermeers. Gaetano Chiaveri's Baroque 18th century Hofkirche (Court Church) is finished and used regularly for Catholic services. The old Landhaus (Statehouse), an imposing mansion reminiscent of Versailles, has been turned into a museum...