A friend (who just might be lurking) recently sent me a book of "then and
now" photos of Dresden, comparing the immediate aftermath of the
firebombing with the appearance of the city in more recent days.  My lack
of understanding of the geography of the city is topped only by my lack of
understanding of the German text, but it seems that in East Germany the
Soviets and their German counterparts mixed the signal a bit-- preserving
some of the monuments but considering other parts of the city as a bit of
a tabula rasa for creating the communist wonderland.  As a result, a
number of bombastic modernist assemblages for which the locals must now
figure out some kind of preservation philosophy.

The comparison of "restoration" and "reconstruction" seems to shift rather
a lot between museum restoration and day-to-day construction.  No value
judgements, just an observation.

Kevin Daly, completing the fabulous combination of a run-on sentence and a
lack of a real point--

On Thu, 15 Oct 1998, Svante wrote:

>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Davidson <[log in to unmask]>

[snip...]

> >old town was entirely rebuilt from photograph and living memory; as a
> resident
> >there 6 months It was a great result; and even though it was communist
> times;
> >the resulting restoration was impressive.
>
> Michael,
>
> It was still restoration even if basic method of it was reconstuction. The

[viscious snippo...]

>
> Witold
>