Secret Cathedral

DRESDEN Cathedral is called Kathedrale Sanctissimae Trinitatis, which roughly translates as Cathedral of the Feast of the Holy Trinity.

It was built amid great secrecy from 1739 to 1755 by Friedrich August II, the Roman Catholic Elector* of largely Protestant Saxony.

Dresden Cathedral, with the royal palace in the background

He wanted a court church for private worship, partly to bolster his position as King of Poland, a title earlier held by his father, who converted to Catholicism in order to get it.

The fact that the building was to be a Catholic church was kept secret for as long as possible for fear of opposition from the city.

It was largely destroyed by bombing in WW2, but was rebuilt and given cathedral status in 1964.

*An Elector was one of a small number of secular princes and archbishops who elected the Holy Roman Emperor.