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Leipzig is the largest city in Saxony, lying on the plain of eastern Germany about 150 kilometers southwest of Berlin. It grew where two great medieval trade routes crossed, and its trade fair dates back to 1190, while between the 18th and 20th centuries it was the heart of German publishing.
Music runs deep here. Johann Sebastian Bach led the choir of St. Thomas Church from 1723 until his death in 1750 and is buried there, Felix Mendelssohn directed the Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the city's boys' choir has sung for some 800 years. In 1989 the peaceful Monday Demonstrations that began at St. Nicholas Church helped bring down East German communist rule.
Today Leipzig is a lively, creative city of restored arcades, courtyards and old industrial halls. Beyond the center stand the huge Monument to the Battle of the Nations and a famous zoo, while old open-cast mines to the south have been turned into lakes with sandy beaches.
St. Thomas Church in Leipzig is the Lutheran church where Johann Sebastian Bach was cantor from 1723 until his death in 1750, and he is buried inside. Martin Luther preached there in 1539, the late Gothic hall church still keeps its old character, and its boys' choir was likely founded in 1212.
The Nikolaikirche, or St. Nicholas Church, is a main church of Leipzig, begun in 1165 and later rebuilt in Gothic style with a Neoclassical interior. Several works by Bach were first performed there, and in 1989 it was the center of the Monday Demonstrations, the peaceful revolt against communism.
The Old Town Hall dominates the east side of the Markt, the market square of Leipzig, and is one of Germany's finest Renaissance civic buildings. More than 90 meters long beneath a steep roof and tower, it now houses the city history museum, while the mayor moved to the New Town Hall in 1905.
The Bach Museum in Leipzig tells the story of the life and work of Johann Sebastian Bach, facing St. Thomas Church where he served as cantor. It is part of the Bach Archive in the Bosehaus, a Baroque house on the church square, and it opened in 1985 for the 300th anniversary of the composer's birth.
Auerbachs Keller is a historic restaurant beneath the Mädler Passage in central Leipzig, with a wine bar first recorded on the site in 1438. It owes its fame to Goethe's Faust, where it is the first place Mephistopheles takes Faust, and it still serves diners in its old vaulted rooms.
The Gewandhaus is the concert hall of Leipzig and home of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, among the world's oldest. Today's hall on Augustusplatz is the third of the name and is noted for its fine acoustics, while the first saw Felix Mendelssohn as director and premieres by Beethoven and Schubert.
The Museum der bildenden Künste is the museum of fine arts of Leipzig, with art from the late Middle Ages to modern times. It grew out of the Leipzig Art Association founded in 1837 and opened its first rooms in 1848, and its collection is now shown in a modern glass cube in the city center.
Leipzig Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station of Leipzig and, at about 83,460 square meters, the largest station in Europe by floor area. Behind its 298-meter facade, six iron train sheds and a grand concourse of stone arches cover the platforms, and its lower levels hold a busy shopping center.
The Monument to the Battle of the Nations in Leipzig recalls the battle of 1813, when the armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden defeated Napoleon outside the city. Paid for largely by donations, it was finished in 1913 for the 100th anniversary, and it has a high viewing platform.
Leipzig Zoo opened in 1878 near the city center and covers about 27 hectares with some 850 species in themed worlds. It is known for Pongoland, home to all four species of great apes, and Gondwanaland, one of the largest indoor rainforest halls in the world, and it has bred more than 2,000 lions.
The Panometer in Leipzig is a giant panoramic artwork shown inside a former gasometer of 1910 in Connewitz, created in 2003 by the artist Yadegar Asisi. The round brick building is 57 meters across, and visitors climb a central tower to view a 360-degree painting whose theme changes every few years.
The Cospudener See is a lake on the southern edge of Leipzig, made by flooding an old open-cast mine, known locally as Cossi. It has long sandy beaches, a small sailing harbor and paths for cycling and walking, and it is part of the Central German Lake District that has grown up around the city.
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