A church that dominated Dresden's skyline for two centuries but collapsed after the city was firebombed during World War II was re-consecrated yesterday following a €180-million reconstruction.
"It is a symbol of reconciliation and a sign that there should never be war again," German President Horst Koehler said as he left the Frauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady, rebuilt 60 years after Allied bombs destroyed it and the surrounding city.
German leaders, a British duke and a crowd of around 60,000 attended the ceremony celebrating reconstruction of the church in its original baroque style, using two of the remaining outer walls and many of its original stone blocks.
The 90-metre church survived the initial waves of British and American bombings that engulfed Dresden in a firestorm, but caught fire and collapsed a day and a half after the first attack on February 13, 1945.
"I'm absolutely overwhelmed by the beauty of this building," said Britain's official representative, the Duke of Kent. "It stands now for friendship and peace in the whole of Europe."
Britain has been closely involved in the project under his patronage.
The British-based Dresden Trust raised €1.5 million and Queen Elizabeth and Britain provided a new orb and cross, crafted by the son of a British airman who took part in the bombing, for the top of the dome.
Dresden's eight chiming bells began the ceremony before church staff and schoolchildren walked in procession past the 1,700 invited guests, including Chancellor-designate Angela Merkel and outgoing leader Gerhard Schroeder.
One of those who offered prayers was a visibly moved woman who had been christened in the church in 1919, confirmed in 1934 and married there in 1944.
A number in the crowd outside had tears in their eyes. "To see it actually complete is a great joy," said Alice Pahl, 77, who had given up hope of seeing it standing again.
After the war, the two remaining walls and rubble had come to symbolise different things. To the people of Dresden, they were a painful reminder of their city's lost glory as the baroque "Florence of the Elbe" and the bombing horror.
Some historians have argued bombing so near to the end of World War Two was strategically unnecessary and may have constituted a war crime.
Some 25,000 to 50,000 people were killed in the firestorm that destroyed 85 per cent of the city. To others, the ruins stood as a monument to the futility and destruction of war.
For the communist government of the former East Germany, the church ruins were an anti-fascist symbol and a propaganda tool in the Cold War.
The reconstruction team dug around 8,000 stone blocks out of the ruins and were able to use around 3,800 in the rebuilt structure. The original blocks, blackened with age, are clearly visible together with two outer walls that were left standing.
The project won support from across Germany and around the world - some 60 per cent of the funding came from private donations with government cash making up the difference.