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	Leipzig - the city of Bach’s heritage in Sachsen

Although its bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games didn’t turn out to be successful, Leipzig is still one of the most remarkable cities of eastern Germany, which is now developing rapidly, transforming into a new city where tradition

and modernity harmonize.

There are numerous construstion sites in the city. Old buildings are being refurbished, but their facade will remain, leaving the city’s nice atmosphere created by the beauty of its traditional

architenture intact.


	Leipzig is an unusual city, as the arts were financed by merchants, rather than rich patrons. It has been home to many great artists, musicians and poets, such as Johan Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Felix Mendelssohn (1809-47), Robert Schumann (1810-56), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) and Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805).




	Leipzig's most famous resident, Johann Sebastian Bach was in charge of music in the city of Leipzig, the churches and the University. This duty involved

continually writing new work to be performed. The monument outside St. Thomas’ Church celebrates Bach's work as the "Cantor" (= choirmaster). He was the choirmaster here for 27 years until his death and is buried just in front of the altar. Both Mozart and Mendelssohn performed in this church as well, and Richard Wagner was christened here in 1813.
St. Thomas Choir, whose main focus is the preservation of Bach's choral works, is assumed


	to be as old as the church itself. When Bach was choirmaster, there were 54 boys in the choir. The choir, with about 100 boys today, performs here weekly when not on a tour.


	If you are a fan of Goethe, you would be very much interested in dining at the “Auerbachs Keller”, a cellar restaurant immortalised in


	his world-famous novel “Faust”. Next to the staircases leading to the restaurant, there are a pair of magnifiscent statues rendering the schenes from the


	novel.

One of the most significant periods of Leipzig's history was when the Pastor of St. Nicholas’ Church began peace prayer services that in 1989 led to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
”...In 1982, when both NATO and Warsaw Pact nations deployed mid-range cruise missiles on German soil, St. Nicholas’ Church began informal peace prayers every Monday at 5:00. Small groups would gather to pray for disarmament. Through the years these small peace
prayers became a focal point for resistance against the communist government in East Germany. As the peace prayers grew, the police became more threatened. Finally on the 09/10/1989, they ordered St. Nicholas church to stop the peace prayers. However, the order actually turned the peace prayers into a massive nonviolent demonstration. On that Monday by 2:00 pm, 6,000 people filled the four main churches in the centre of Leipzig. By 5:00 pm over 70,000 people flooded into the streets. As the crowd walked through the city they held small candles; one hand had to hold the candle, while the other hand had to break the wind. 70,000 candles were a sign to the police that the crowd was not carrying any weapons and marching in peace. The police had threatened the church that they would shoot if necessary to break up the peace prayers. As the demonstration moved by the police headquarters the building was totally dark. People knew that the policemen were

inside and armed, but they didn’t know that the police would not fire into the crowd. Everybody was afraid, but didn’t stop walking by. No shots were fired on the streets of Leipzig on that day. The police was overwhelmed by nonviolence. This
peace prayer was a part of historic change in Germany. One month later, 09/11/1989, East German authorities opened the borders to West Germany. On the same night the Berlin Wall came down without a single shot being fired...”


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Leipzig - the city of Bach’s heritage in Sachsen