The Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) is a Lutheran church built in the 18th century, between 1726-1743, by George Bähr (mostly completed by 1736).
Even though Saxony's Prince-elector, Frederick August I (August the Strong), reconverted to Roman Catholicism to become King of Poland, he supported the construction to have an impressive cupola in the Dresden townscape.
Johann Sebastian Bach gave an organ recital there in 1736.

On 13 February 1945, Anglo-American allied forces began the bombing of Dresden. The church withstood two days and nights of the attacks and the eight interior sandstone pillars supporting the large dome held up long enough for the evacuation of 300 people who had sought shelter in the church crypt, before succumbing to the heat generated by some 650,000 incendiary bombs that were dropped on the city. The temperature surrounding and inside the church eventually reached 1,000 degrees Celsius (1832 degrees Fahrenheit). The dome finally collapsed at 10 a.m. on 15 February. The pillars glowed bright red and exploded; the outer walls shattered and nearly 6,000 tons of stone plunged to earth, penetrating the massive floor as it fell.

In January 1993, original plans from the 1720’s were used to reconstruct the church, using thousands of recovered stones which were put back in their original place (including ones darkened from the firebombing. This is why you see the exterior walls in checkered patterns). Photos and computer technology were used to reconstruct the church in as close of detail as possible, which took until 2005, costing 100 million Euros, 90 percent of that coming from global donations.