Coventry and Dresden are not just twin cities; they also shared the fate of destruction by air raid during the second world war. In February 1945, the whole inner city of Dresden was heavily bombed. Hardly any building survived the night. The famous Frauenkirche (Church of our Lady) imploded and remained in ruins for decades.

But Dresden had not just been any old city: home to the Saxon princes since the middle ages, a treasury of art and architecture, famous as ’the Florence of the north‘ with stunning baroque monuments such as the Frauenkirche and the Zwinger (a palatial complex with gardens), and immense art collections all topped off by a balmy Mediterranean climate.

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