Night of Voices: Angel of Peace in the Dresden Frauenkirche

Last night, 9:45 PM. In Dresden, there is a silence that you can almost touch. It is the time when every year the city's bells remind of those terrible hours of February 13 and 14, 1945. I stood in front of the Frauenkirche, that mighty stone testament of rise, fall, and miraculous resurrection.

For us Dresdeners, the Frauenkirche is more than a house of worship. It is the stone heart of the city. When it collapsed under the weight of heat and pain two days after the attack in 1945, it marked the definitive end of a world for the people here. For decades, the pile of rubble in the heart of the city remained a memorial, an open wound of sandstone and soot.

But then the impossible happened: the 'Call from Dresden'. Thanks to an unprecedented worldwide willingness to donate – supported by people from nations that once faced each other as enemies – the dome rose again to the sky. Since its consecration in 2005, it stands there: a world wonder of reconciliation, built from the blackened stones of the ruin and the bright sandstone of the present. A mosaic of peace.

While I was sitting in the church space last night, my gaze wandered up to the golden tower cross. It is the gift of the British, donated by the Dresden Trust in Coventry. One must consider the symbolism: The man who forged this cross is the blacksmith Alan Smith. His father was one of the bomber pilots who flew over Dresden that night in 1945. That the son of an attacker today places the symbol of hope on our dome is a gesture that brings tears to my eyes every time. It is the highest form ofhealing.

And precisely into this atmosphere of deep reconciliation, another messenger returned home yesterday: The Angel of Peace Michael, created by the sculptor Reinhard Pontius. For five years, this wooden messenger was on a peace mission across Europe. He saw places of suffering and hope, connected people, and now, on this historic night, he was welcomed with a ceremony at the end of his journey in the Frauenkirche. He will now be hosted in the lower church until April.

As I sat there and looked at the angel, I suddenly felt his presence: Beethoven. I wondered: What would the 'Master' think if he were standing here next to me? He, who in his last years was completely immersed in silence, but in his mind created the most powerful vision of brotherhood that humanity has ever set to music.

Beethoven was a man of struggle, yes. But above all, he was a man of overcoming. If he saw this church – a building destroyed by hate and rebuilt through the active remorse and love of the world – he would probably nod silently. It is the architectural equivalent of his Ninth Symphony. From the chaos of the first movement, the Ode to Joy emerges in the end. 'All men will become brothers.'

And yes, Beethoven would give us a necessary sermon today:

'You have the instruments of peace in your hands, you have the golden cross of reconciliation and wooden angels traveling through Europe. But do you hear the nuances? Do you understand that peace is not a state to rest on, but a composition that must be performed anew and with effort every day?'

The message of last night's Beethoven ART TOUR is clear: Our journey is not just an artistic experiment. It is a diplomatic mission. As we travel with Beethoven from Vienna through Prague to Dresden and on to Budapest, we carry with us this 'Spirit of the Frauenkirche', the 'History of the Tower Cross', and the 'Mission of the Angel of Peace'. We travel through a Europe that today shows cracks again. Beethoven reminds us that art is the mortar that can fill these cracks.

The Angel of Peace by Reinhard Pontius and the work of Alan Smith remind us: Reconciliation is possible if you have the courage to build something new out of the ruins and guilt.

Ludwig, when you arrive here in Dresden in May, I will take you to the Frauenkirche. I will show you the cross and the angel Michael. And perhaps, for a brief moment, the dissonance in your head will give way to a great, peaceful harmony.

We continue the path. In the name of peace. In the name of art.