B? a carpenter with no detailed formal knowledge of architecture designed the church to be supported by the walls and large internal sandstone

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B?, a carpenter with no detailed, formal knowledge of architecture, designed the church to be supported by the walls and large internal sandstone columns. In all, 30 architects, 60 stonecutters and 40 masons and carpenters formed the core of the team that remade the church on behalf of the Foundation for the Reconstruction of the Frauenkirche, which was set up in 1990.There was a key difficulty. Very few accurate original plans remain from the time of the Frauenkirche's construction. But the real story lies in the city's obdurate determination to recreate the church as precisely as possible - and to spend whatever it took to complete the task.The financial cost gives no idea of the complexity of the task that confronted the city. Hundreds of stone blocks used to rebuild the church have been personally sponsored by donors from throughout the world.Building workers yesterday craned the final sandstone block to its place on a parapet surrounding the imposing dome. The building will be reopened next autumn.The church, which took 17 years to build, burned for two days and two nights until its 90-metre high dome, which had dominated the city's Neumarkt square, collapsed The organ, once played by Bach, was carbonised.

The scene of the premier of The Love Feast of the Apostles in 1843, created by Wagner, the city's Hofkapellmeister, was smoking rubble.The church was part of a destructive holocaust triggered by hundreds of thousands of incendiary bombs, which killed more than 135,000 people. The physical fabric of the city was razed: 90 per cent of the city's houses were destroyed; all of the 19 major hospitals were damaged; and 20 churches, 30 historic buildings and 35 schools were torched.The first book in the West to deliver visions of the city's destruction to a mass audience was Kurt Vonnegut's novel, Slaughterhouse Five.The Frauenkirche - Our Lady's Church - had been one of the finest expressions of baroque architecture in a city once riddled with such grandiloquent architectural statements, and a decisive example of protestant egalitarian worship. It was designed by the master architect, George B? in the early 18th century, on the order of Count August Christoph von Wackerbarth, superintendent of architecture for the state of Saxony.The rebuilding of the Frauenkirche, the ruins of which were preserved in Germany's old east sector as an anti-war memorial, is a wonderful moment for architectural enthusiasts. The ruins of the church were left in place by the former East Germany's Communist regime which used the site as an anti-war symbol and as evidence of Anglo-American aggression.Reconstruction of the church, which began in 1994, is designed to signify Dresden's rebirth after the trials the city experienced during the war and under Communism. More than €130m has been collected for the reconstruction of the church.Eberhard Burger, the director of the rebuilding programme, said the insertion of the stone signalled that the church was finally nearing completion. "It has been a long road and there is a touch of sadness about today's event because it means that the project is almost finished," he said.The Frauenkirche was built between 1726 and 1743 by the German architect George B? and was regarded as one of the finest baroque churches of northern Europe and as an important symbol of Dresden's architectural prowess.The building was destroyed during the controversial Allied bombing raid on Dresden on the night of 13 February, 1945.

As cheering crowds looked on, masons mortared the final stone into a 78-metre spire, marking the completion of the £80m external rebuilding of the baroque church.The last sandstone block was inserted in the outer wall of the rebuilt 18th-century church, reduced to rubble during one of the most devastating Allied bombing raids of the Second World War.Building workers craned the block weighing more than a ton to its place in a parapet 78 metres above ground beneath the dome of the building. But, on a night of destruction in 1945, both were turned to rubble. It was one of the most stunning buildings in one of Europe's most beautiful cities. Being just 15, Alyona was not qualified to enter; sighs of relief all round But she did not leave empty-handed. To compensate, she accepted a a puppy and refused the offer of a trip to the contest because she would be sitting exams She accepted a stereo with karaoke facilities instead.. "She came out of the blue," Ivan Zassoursky, the Russian organiser, said.

"I thought there was a problem with the programming."The organisers began to panic but came up with a solution. They also claimed she was a battering ram against pop music which is imposed "from above" and against nicotine-free cigarettes and caffeine-free coffee In short, she became the standard bearer for the movement Her rapid success startled the organisers of Miss Universe. The activists urged others to vote for the "ordinary" Alyona who got 10,000 votes in the first day. She rapidly stormed to the top, poised to become Russia's official Miss Universe contestant.The anti-globalisers said she was a real person and a vote for her was a vote against "unnatural looking beauties and fake emotions", as well as the conventional standards of beauty connected with waist and bust size. A picture of 15-year-old Alyona Pisklova (not her real surname) appeared on the website used to select Russia's candidate, alongside that of various sultry models in various poses and states of undress.But the incongruous snap was spotted by a small but dedicated group of anti-globalisers who seized on Alyona in their fight against what they call the "Barbification" of society. The contest, to be held in Ecuador this year, may be something of a joke but the anti-globalisation movement almost succeeded in turning it into an outright farce. One schoolgirl entered a classmate in the contest to become Russia's Miss Universe contestant without her knowing. A schoolgirl prank has left the organisers of the Miss Universe competition clutching their clipboards in panic.