Dresden is a beautiful city, but at the same time is strange to visit. It seems to be an old city, but the reality is that it isn't. The whole city was leveled by the British and American Air Forces during the Second World War. The bombing of the city is well known, because although the city was a center for communications and manufacturing, the level of destruction was excessive.
If you look online for photos of the city after the bombing, you will see that the entire old city center was flattened. There was no differentiation between military and civilian zones. Nothing was left untouched.
Today you go to the city and it is hard to tell that everything was reconstructed less than 100 years ago. Many of the buildings have been rebuilt as they were before, and the center of the city has the feel of an old city.
