The Dresden Archive Project opens on the 23rd November 2012 and runs until 22nd February 2013 in The German Historical Institute. Second World War History lovers won’t want to miss out as this exhibition displays work by the artist Alan Turnbull, alongside archived material that he has collected in remembrance of the German city that was destroyed.

In the Second World War, Dresden was a major communications hub and the capital of the state of Saxony and many people fled there seeking refuge. The city had been attacked several times in 1944, before it was finally destroyed in 1945 in a combined assault from the British Royal Air Force and United States Army. The Dresden Archive Project hopes to reveal the past lives that were lived in this city, remembering it when it was in its prime.

The Project compiles photos, postcards and painted ephemera relating to this once great city and its long history. Some of these artefacts date back to the 1870s, and end in the 1950s, showing Dresden as a ruined city and in Soviet control.

These special archived images show everyday life, of funfairs, cafes and hotels as well as pictures of those who lived in the city and even depictions of the Saxon royal family.

Alan Turnbull, shows himself to be both an artist as well as an archivist in the Dresden Archive Project, as he has created a series of artwork pieces specifically for this exhibition, including a collage created from the archived material. These wonderfully splendid compilations of images capture the essence of Dresden, its social evolution and the value it had to those who had once lived there.