Geograph - photograph every grid square

This circular plaque, which appears to be of slate, is attached to the brickwork that adjoins the steeple of Greyfriars church, the rest of which was destroyed in a German air raid in 1941. The steeple can be seen here SP3378 : Greyfriars steeple and The Wave waterpark, Coventry and is now occupied by a bar run by the craft brewery Dhillons, visible here SP3378 : Dhillon's Spire Bar in Greyfriars Steeple, Dresden Place, Coventry.

The plaque carries the arms of the cities of Dresden and Coventry and the following inscription: This plaque was unveiled by the Lord Mayor of Dresden Herr Gerhard Schill in the presence of the Ambassador of the German Democratic Republic Herr Karl-Heinz Kern and the Right Worshipful the Lord Mayor of Coventry Councillor G W Sheridan on Wednesday 3rd April 1974 to mark the naming of the area 'Dresden Place' as a symbol of the friendship link between Dresden and Coventry born out of wartime destruction and now devoted to international understanding and peace.

The friendship link was established in 1959, when the Cold War division of Europe made relations and travel between east and west extremely difficult; Dresden was in Communist East Germany, the German Democratic Republic, which was a single-party totalitarian state and not 'democratic' in the western, liberal sense. In 1974 the politics of détente (see here SP3379 : The Ministry of Reconciliation: Site of Kennedy House, Hill Top, Coventry) were making contact between East Germany and Britain slightly easier. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the reunification of East & West Germany the following year, the link between Coventry and Dresden has flourished. A major road in Dresden is named Coventrystrasse. In contrast, this plaque is difficult to see, being hidden behind the furniture of the bar, with a sign nearby warning 'No loitering'. It is unlikely that many Coventry people are aware that this is 'Dresden Place.'