Culture in Dresden Waurich"). Kurt Vonnegut's novel "Slaughterhouse-Five" describes the bombing of Dresden in February 1945 seen from a slaughterhouse near the old city of Dresden. Vonnegut was prisoner of war in Dresden during that event. Contemporary novelists who are active in Dresden include Uwe Tellkamp and Ingo Schulze. Both broach up the theme of "Mythos Dresden". Tellkamp is known for his novel "Der Turm" ("The Tower") plotting the life of an academic family in its educated social environment (ivory tower society) of Dresden in the last seven years of former East Germany. Dresden's heterogeneous cityspace strongly influences the lifestyle of the city.
Culture in Dresden and libed in by tens of thousands of residents. Dresden is a student city with its own infrastructure of event locations and cultural institutions. There are 16 student clubs in the Altstadt and Südvorstadt near the university. Due to the Elbe river, rowing and canoeing are popular leisure activities in Dresden. Dresden is a chess centre and was the host city of the Chess Olympiad in 2008. Night inline skating events are held every week in the summer. The style of housing can vary strongly within Dresden. In some cases old village cores are only a few minutes away from