Much of the historic city center of Dresden in eastern Germany was evacuated this morning to defuse a World War II bomb discovered yesterday, Tuesday, during work, according to local authorities.

More than 17,000 people were called early this morning to evacuate their homes in this city nicknamed “Florence of Elba”, which had suffered massive damage from Allied bombing in February 1945.

In the very touristy district that was evacuated is the Frauenkirche, a Protestant church built in the 18th century, of which for fifty years only ruins remained after it was bombed, before being rebuilt stone by stone a few years after the reunification of Germany.

The British bomb, which caused the evacuation of the district, weighs 250 kilograms and was discovered yesterday during work carried out after the collapse on the Elbe last September of the Carola Bridge, one of the main axes of this old city in which the kings of Saxony had their headquarters.

In Germany, which this spring commemorated 80 years since the end of World War II, there are still many unexploded bombs that are regularly discovered on construction sites.

Last January, some 10,000 people were evacuated from their homes in Dresden after another bomb was discovered at the same location.

In June, more than 20,000 people were evacuated from their homes in Cologne after the discovery of three bombs from the same period.