Rosengarten, Dresden

The Rosengarten stretches along the Elbe riverbank as a vast, manicured field of thousands of roses, broken only by low, symmetrical hedges. During the nineteen thirties, city planners cleared the cluttered old boatyards here to create a public space for the Third Reich’s gardening exhibitions. When the bombs fell on Dresden in nineteen forty-five, the heat and debris destroyed the garden, leaving behind a scarred, empty lot. Local residents eventually cleared the rubble by hand, replanting the flowers themselves during the ruins.