Synopsis
It was the night of February 13th 1945 when Dresden was destroyed in an airstrike.And with it vanished semper opera, Dresden´s heart of culture. Nothing but it´s impressive front remained and turned the former legendary opera house into a single memorial -until it´s reconstruction was pushed through by the Dresdeners 30 years later.
The laying of the foundations in 1977 meant the beginning of an adventure for hundreds of restorers, artists, and plasterers. It was a challenging experience: The original building plans and drafts had been lost and the legendary colouring was only documented in letters. An exceptionally difficult task was awarded to the stucco plasterers who manufactured the stucco marble and stucco-lustro. These were essential for the accurate historical reconstruction of the foyers and vestibules and the reproduction of their architectural effects.
Those long-forgotten crafts had to be re-learned. Also, the long-term lack of material, a result of the GDR’s weak economy, aggravated the process of reconstruction. During all this time, a group of film-makers documented silently and carefully. They immortalised the painters, sculptors, carpenters and stucco plasterers at work, ironing, waxing and polishing, painting and reconstructing. This treasure of cinematic art has now been made available by the film group.
Our film tells the story of the film-group and the people who rebuilt the semper opera.
Along with the Dresdeners, they fought against the GDR government for their dream of reconstructing the opera house.