Bristol Hannover Council

After an introduction by the ambassador, Miguel Berger, the Dean of Windsor, Dr Christopher Cocksworth, recollected his time as Bishop of Coventry from 2008-2023, during which time there were many visits of youth groups, school and cultural groups to and from Coventry’s partner city, Dresden.

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The two main speakers were Edmund de Waal, artist, potter and author, and author and poet, Durs Grünbein. Edmund de Waal told us the story of porcelain, originating in China, told us also of the Japanisches Palais in Dresden, which was destroyed and rebuilt, now housing the Klemperer collection, some of which was found in pieces in the rubble and put back together with special glue to make a new artefact (see below), which was passed round the audience.

Durs Grünbein, born in Dresden, then read in German parts of his book Porzellan – Poem vom Untergang meiner Stadt, which were of course very moving.

There was subsequent discussion about why Dresden is ‘so special’ and words such as elegy, culture and the fragility of porcelain emerged as a metaphor for having gone through fire.

The evening was rounded off by a presentation by Marcus Ferrar, Chair of the Dresden Trust, had presented the orb and cross as a gift from the British people to Dresden in 2004, and they are again on the top of the Frauenkirche (below).