Dresden

This article is about the capital city of Saxony. For the administrative district in north east Saxony, see Dresden Government District.

Dresden
Dresden
Coordinates	51°2′0″N 13°44′0″E
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Saxony
Admin. region	Dresden Region
District	Urban district
Lord Mayor	Helma Orosz (CDU)
Basic statistics
Area	328.8 km2 (127.0 sq mi)
Elevation	113 m  (371 ft)
Population	504,635  (31 December 2006)
- Density	1,535 /km2 (3,975 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	DD
Postal codes	01001 - 01462
Area code	0351
Website	dresden.de

Dresden (Sorbian: Drježdźany) is the capital of the Free State of Saxony.

History

Dresden was already settled in the Stoneage, but the first written record of the city was in 1206, when Dresden began to develop as a royal residence.

Politics and cultural

Dresden is the political and cultural centre of Saxony. It is the seat of the governmental district of Dresden and of many universities. The number of inhabitants of the city exceeded 100,000 in about 1852.

In 2002 Dresden was flooded in Germany's so-called "century flooding".

Dresden has about 488,000 inhabitants (2005). Dresden forms the core of the densely populated area of the same name in Central Europe and is a traffic junction and an economic centre. Together with the population centres of Chemnitz, Zwickau and Leipzig, it forms the population centre known as the Metropolregion Saxonia triangle .

Bombing of Dresden

Dresden was bombed a lot at the end of World War II. It was bombed by American and British bombers between 13 February and 15 February 1945. Most of the city's buildings were damaged beyond repair after the bombings. The city had to rebuild most of its buildings after the war.