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Historically one of the cultural centers of Europe, Dresden was almost totally destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II. Dresden is in eastern Germany. Its boundaries extend to the hills that mark the limits of the Elbe Basin. The heart of the old city, on the south side of a bend in the Elbe River, has been reconstructed since the war. The Zwinger, built for one of the electors of Saxony in the early 18th century, is a museum and was once a scene for royal festivities. Its collection of paintings was removed for safekeeping during World War II and was returned in 1956. Nearby is the Opera House designed by Gottfried Semper in the mid-19th century. The Opera House, associated with Carl Maria von Weber, Richard Wagner, and Richard Strauss, was reopened after reconstruction was completed in 1985. To the east of the Opera House is the New Market Square. The Kreuzkirche, the oldest church in the city, is on the Old Market Square. Prager Strasse, once a major shopping street, is now a pedestrian mall. Nearby coalfields led to the industrialization of Dresden in the late 19th century. Manufactured products include precision and optical instruments, radio and electrical equipment, hydroelectric generators, and X-ray and photographic equipment. Flowers and shrubs are grown for export. The world-famous Dresden china is made at nearby Meissen. Dresden has a professional theater, an opera company, and a symphony orchestra. The Technical University is the main institution of higher education. The Central Institute for Nuclear Physics and the German Museum of Hygiene are also in Dresden. Dresden's origins extend to at least the early 1200s, when the Margrave of Meissen built a castle near a fishing village. In 1489 it became the residence and capital of the Albertine line of Wettin rulers. The city burned in 1491 and was heavily damaged in the Seven Years' War in the 18th century and again during the Napoleonic wars. The World War II bombing raids of Feb. 13 and 14, 1945, created a fire storm that killed 35,000 to 135,000 residents. Protest demonstrations in Dresden in 1989 influenced the rapid political liberalization in East Germany that preceded the reunification of Germany. Population (1990 estimate), 493,200.
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