According to 3rjewelry, Leipzig was founded in 1015 as a settlement at the crossroads of two of the most important European trade routes – the Royal and Imperial roads. Before him, there was a Slavic settlement Lipsk, as well as a German settlement. It received city status in 1165. In the XIII-XV centuries. Leipzig became a major economic center, one of the main cities of Saxony. Many fairs have always been held here. In 1507, Emperor Maximilian I granted the city the privilege of holding them – it was forbidden to hold any fairs within a radius of 15 miles from Leipzig. In the 17th and 18th centuries Leipzig became the economic center of the country, the capital of book printing, and a major center of cultural life in Germany. at the University of Leipzig, founded in 1409, studied by Goethe, Lessing and Klopstock, and Johann Sebastian Bach in 1723-1750. was its conductor. Mendelssohn, Schumann and Wagner lived and worked in Leipzig at different times, here Schiller wrote his Ode to Joy. Leipzig was the first to carry out the industrial revolution in the second half of the 19th century. This city became one of the centers of the German labor movement. In 1863, the General German Workers’ Union was founded here. During the November Revolution of 1918, a council of workers’ and soldiers’ deputies was formed in Leipzig. The first issue of Iskra was published in Leipzig ; V. I. Lenin visited this place several times. Today the city is proud of its business past, but does not forget about the business present: it is second only to Frankfurt is the “banking” capital of Germany, more than 25 international exhibitions are held here every year.
The city has a lot of attractions: the Old Town Hall, Nikolaikirche, Thomaskirche, the Museum of Antiquity, the Museum of Fine Arts, Ethnographic, Musical Instruments, Applied Arts, Book and Font Museum: The Old Town Hall was built in the middle of the 16th century. Now it works as a museum and a concert hall; at the turn of the century, the city government moved to the New Town Hall a little further from the city center. Inside the old Town Hall there are wonderful meeting rooms with antique furniture, smoked fireplaces that are still stoked, tiles and portraits of city elders. And from its balcony every Sunday the city’s trumpeters blow the city’s anthem. The Nikolaikirche was built in the 13th century, but then rebuilt many times. Its appearance successfully combines elements of Gothic, Renaissance architecture, Baroque and Classicism. In the neighborhood of the Nikolaikirche is the Augustusplatz square, which could be called the Arts Square. On three sides, the square is surrounded by the University of Leipzig, the Leipzig Philharmonic – Neues Gewandhaus (Gewandhaus – “fair building”, the building in which the Leipzig Orchestra originally played) and the Leipzig Opera. On the same square is the first high-rise building of the city – the 11-storey Kroch-haus. It is famous for the fact that a 530-kilogram tower clock, made in the form of Venetian bells, is mounted on its roof. The clock strikes every quarter of the hour, and crowds of tourists gather at the house to listen to their melodious chime.
The Thomaskirche is the most famous church in the city. It was built in the Gothic style in the XIII – XV centuries. The remains of J.S. Bach are buried here. Richard Wagner and Karl Liebknecht were baptized in this church (the latter’s godfathers were Marx and Engels). For 700 years now, the singing of the world-famous Boys Choir has been heard under the arches of this church. Renaissance buildings, the building of the Old Stock Exchange in the Baroque style, built in 1678, have been preserved on Markt Square. Leipzig ‘s first coffee house (Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum, from 1694) still operates in one of the former warehouses on the square, and Leipzig ‘s oldest wine cellar is located in the basement of another, immortalized by Goethe in “Faust”: Auerbach’s cellar (Auerbachs Keller). Right at the entrance to the Auerbach are two large bronze figures of Faust and Mephistopheles. Faust’s left boot shines like gold. A sign that is still valid today: whoever touches this boot will definitely return to Leipzig !
The most famous monument of Leipzig is located in the south of the city: a huge monument to the Battle of the Nations, opened in 1913 on the day of the centenary of the famous battle of Austria, Prussia and Russia with the troops of Napoleon. 130 thousand people fell in the battle. The height of the monument is 91 meters, at its top there is an observation deck, which offers a beautiful view of the city. West of Leipzig there are the famous Leipzig Zoo, Schiller’s house-museum and the Gohliser Schloesschen country palace, now a beautifully restored concert hall.
Leipzig is very conveniently located, in fact, in the center of Germany. An hour and a half by car – and you are in Dresden, the Saxon capital and museum city. Between Leipzig and Dresdn – Meissen, the famous “porcelain” city. This is to the east. And to the west of Leipzig – the wonderful park Dessau-Werlitz, belonging to the world cultural heritage of UNESCO, the city of Goethe and Schiller – Weimar, the capital of Thuringia, medieval Erfurt. Finally, from Leipzig only three hours by car to Berlin. In Leipzig well and work, and relax, and travel!
