Leipzig (Germany): View from the Thomaskirche Churchyard (Bach Statue, Bachmuseum, etc.)
The Bach monument (1908) is by Carl Seffner. The anatomist Wilhelm His served as a consultant when Bach’s skull was identified during the removal of Bach’s remains from the old cemetery of Johanniskirche (Church of St. John) into that church’s interior. An older monument to Bach (1843), promoted by the composer Mendelssohn, is located in the greenbelt to the west of the churchyard.
Bach’s remains have traveled considerably. His grave is now in the choir space of the Thomaskirche. He was first buried (1750) in the old cemetery of the Johanniskirche, and remained there until 1900. Then his remains were transferred to a sarcophagus under the altar inside that church. The newer grave remained undamaged in the heavy bombing attack in December of 1943 that struck the church so heavily that it was later torn down completely and its site converted to a meadow. On July 28, 1949, Bach’s remains were then transferred to the Thomaskirche.
Leipzig (Germany): View from Just Northeast of the Thomaskirche
What would Bach have seen had he stood at the same spot in, say, late 1749 – still able to see passably well but indeed suffering from the cataract that would then be the subject of an operation that blinded him and no doubt contributed to his death soon thereafter. The tower of the Thomaskirche already had its present general shape, but the cupola was squatter. The several minor towers on the north (right) side did not exist until alterations were undertaken to add neo-gothic elements and remove (genuine) gothic and renaissance-era elements of the façade. Bach would not have been able to see the monuments to him, since they were not erected to him him until 1843 or, the more famous one, 1908. Moreover, the older one is beyond the far end of the church and the newer one around to the left side. The western end of the church has changed dramatically since Bach’s time, now having a neo-gothic façade, including the portal that was subsequently named for Mendelssohn. As Bach turned around still more, he would have seen a cityscape that, except for the grassy areas, was almost totally different from what we now see, in part because of increasing urbanization and in part because of the destruction caused by WWII. To the southwest he would have seen a few buildings that somewhat resemble what we see today, among them the Bach-Museum, once the residence of the Bose family, who were wealthy merchants and friends of Bach.
But in late 1749 Bach’s attention, as he stood at the present camera node, would have likely been drawn to the right (north) of the Thomaskirche, to the site of the Amtshaus or administration building, where there had been a major fire in 1749. The Amtshaus, housing parts of the royal government of Saxony, had replaced a merchant’s structure around 1550, which itself had replaced a monastery, which was torn down in 1543 after it was secularized during the Reformation. The Amtshaus of Bach’s time was squarish, with four main storeys and a red roof with vertical gables at the southern and northern ends. When rebuilt after the fire it remained much the same, though the gables were slanted inward toward the top. But it was torn down in 1900 and a department store was built in the Jugendstil (art nouveau) design, which has been maintained (and restored) to house today’s Kommerzbank. The Amtshaus once housed a congregation of the Reformed Church, to which Mendelssohn belonged. In its space an organ was installed (1766/67). In 1899 the congregation moved, and the organ – the oldest still existing organ in Leipzig – was moved to the Church of the Resurrection (Auferstehungskirche) in Leipzig-Möckern.
Leipzig (Germany): View from East of the Thomaskirche and South of Market Square
The main roof of the Thomaskirche is, at 63 degrees from the vertical, the most steeply pitched gable rooves in Germany. From 1533 to 1917 watchmen, and often their families, lived high up in the tower. The tour of the tower includes those facilities and also an opportunity to scramble over the scaffolding that supports the roof and the ceiling of the sanctuary.
The close-up poster of the woman is an ad for preventive treatment against STDs (or STIs – sexuell übertragbare Infektionen). In German such columns are called Litfaßsäulen, named for the printer Ernst Litfaß, who invented them in 1854.
Leipzig (Germany): View from the Center of Market Square (Marktplatz)
The imposing façade to the east is the Old City Hall. It dates back to around 1360, though over the centuries it has been considerably altered and was heavily damaged in WWII.
The narrow lane opening off the square to the west is called “Barfußgäßchen” or “Barfoot Alley”. The name refers to the Franciscan order of monks, called “Barefooters” because their vow of poverty and Christlike behavior restricted their use of shoes to a minimum. Their monastery in Leipzig lay further out the Barfußgäßchen toward the west. During the Reformation the monastery was dissolved and parts of it used as housing and then warehousing. After 1671 the site was reconstructed as a church, which was then destroyed in WWII.
Leipzig (Germany): View from the NW Corner of the Nikolaikirche (Nicholas Church)
The Nikolaikirche played a vital role in the opposition which finally toppled the Marxist regime in East Germany. For years Monday evening prayer meetings were one of the few relatively safe means of resisting. As opposition to the regime grew, the meetings turned into mass marches, whose non-violent intent was made evident by the candles in the marchers’ hands. The marches grew every larger, and at a critical moment the regime troops and “people’s police” (Volkspolizei), which had been awaiting orders to attack with live ammunition, were not given the order to intervene.
The white column directly to the east is a replica of the columns inside the church. It was built and placed to commemorate the importance of the protests led from the Nikolaikirche in the eventually successful resistance to the East German regime.
Leipzig (Germany): View from the Center of Augustusplatz
The Augustusplatz is one of the largest city squares in Europe and was once one of the most beautiful, before its destruction by, first, WWII bombing and then the Communists of East Germany.
The main building to the west stands where the university church (Universitätskirche or Paulinerkirche) once stood, and echoes its basic appearance. Though little damaged in WWII, the church was dynamited by the East German regime in May 1968. After reunification, a car park was built under Augustusplatz; thus the ugly cylindrical stairwell shafts, which have been mocked with the nickname “Milchtöpfe”, “milk bottles”.
Leipzig (Germany): Augustusplatz, North End, in Front of the Opera
Leipzig was the most important site of mass demonstrations against the Communist East German regime, though much of the protest movement originated in the Nikolaikirche, whose somewhat protected status made it possible for Monday evening prayer meetings to take place for many years before moving into the open as the regime weakened.
Replacing the building that was destroyed by WWII bombing on 3 December 1943, the current Oper opened on 8 October 1960 with – of all things, considering the Communist regime of the time – a performance of Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg”.
Leipzig (Germany): View from the Thomaskirche Churchyard (Bach Statue, Bachmuseum, etc.)
The Opera, opened in 1960, and the Gewandhaus, opened in 1981, offer a striking difference in architectural styles, despite the minor difference in their ages. Their predecessors had been destroyed in the firebombings of WWII.
The website (2020) of the opera remarks that the house “appears rather sober by day,… but has a festive effect at night when everything is illuminated”. Further, it “ranks among the most beautiful buildings in the architectural style of the late 1950s”. Put less charitably, more accurately, and damning with faint praise, the Opera is slightly less painful to the eyes than much other architecture of the Stalinist era. It certainly helps make the Gewandhaus attractive.
Leipzig (Germany): Grimmaische Straße at Naschmarkt (Grimma Street at the Open-air Market)
The street is named for Grimma, an old town 16 miles SE of Leipzig. As a connection to Grimma it has long since yielded to the A14 autobahn. In central Leipzig the street has been an important mercantile zone for centuries. Central Leipzig, as an ancient merchant and exposition city, is well known for its Passagen or covered airy pedestrian shopping areas. The two-storey arch to the west, just beyond the modern statue “Jahrhundertschritt” (“Century Step”) by Wolfgang Mattheuer, is the entrance to the Mädlerpassage, which opened in 1914. It incorporated an old restaurant, Auerbachs Keller, where over the centuries many Leipzig students have caroused. Among them was the poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), who set there an important scene is his epic drama “Faust”.
The Naschmarkt, now an outdoor dining area and, toward year’s end, part of the larger Leipzig Christmas Market, dates from the mid-sixteenth century, when it was a fruit market and fruit counted as a snack food. (’Naschen’ means ‘nibble’ and has come into English, via Yiddish, as ‘nosh’.)
Leipzig (Germany): Main Railroad Station, Street Level
The “Blumen Hanisch” florist shop of the panorama (2014) has now (2020) been replaced by the Commerzbank branch that appears on GPS maps.
The entrance here is on the east or “Saxon Side” (Sachsenseite) of the station. The west side is called the “Prussian Side” (Preußenseite). The distinction, partly humorous here, reflects centuries-long ethnic, cultural, linguistic, territorial and military tensions. In general terms, the Prussians won. Saxony, incorporated in real terms into the larger Prussian Empire in 1871, maintained a figure king until 1918. And indeed, the “Saxon” side of the station points generally toward Dresden, the capital of old Saxony, and rail lines to and from Berlin were on the “Prussian” side.
Leipzig (Germany): Main Train Station Track-Level Shopping Arcade (Promenaden) and Gates to Platforms
The façade of the station is 298 meters (over 900 feet) wide and the covered area contains about 85,000 square feet, which in terms of area makes it the largest terminal station in Europe.
The Leipzig station is a “terminal” station (“Kopfbahnhof”), as compared to a “through” station (“Durchgangsbahnhof”). The choice was a matter of great disagreement when the current station was envisioned as a replacement for several separate ones operated by various regional lines some of which were administered by the Kingdom of Saxony, others by the Kingdom of Prussia.
Leipzig (German): Main Railroad Station Tracks, Platforms, Concourse
The image on the advertising screen just to the left of track 8 is not a mistake or a surrealist work of art. Rather, the camera caught the screen as it was switching advertisements. Note from the image to the right that Germany is now adopting some features of the US post-secondary educational system. Traditionally, a “master’s” degree in German would be a “Magister”. And – the word is difficult to see – a “bachelor” graduate would be a “Baccalaureus”, though both those terms fell out of use as the German educational system changed from the Middle Ages and German universities moved to greater emphasis on the doctoral level.
The clock to the south shows 10:19. The one at the north, over the tracks, appears initially to show something like 2 o’clock. Actually, this one is a reflection of the one to the south. Still, if the reflection is reversed, the time would appear to be perhaps 10:08. This is not because the German railway system is in some sort of Twilight Zone or, God forbid (behüte Gott!), that it does not keep the correct time. Rather, the panorama was compiled from more than one set of image frames taken over about fifteen minutes.
Leipzig (Germany): View from near the Neues Rathaus (New City Hall)
The Neues Rathaus opened in 1905, when city government moved from the ancient Altes Rathaus in the center of the city. Of the 51 architects who submitted supposedly anonymous plans in the competition for the design commission, Hugo Licht, the Leipzig Director of Civic Construction, was somehow the architect who won.
The Neues Rathaus is the largest and quite possibly ugliest building of its kind in the world. Its tower, at 115 meters, is the tallest in Germany. Though it is said to be a hallmark of the city, the tower’s appearance contrasts incongruously with the lively and lighthearted atmosphere of modern Leipzig. Perhaps it gained some of its iconic status from replacing the even uglier but apparently beloved tower on the ancient but decrepit and militarily obsolete Pleißenburg (Pleisse River Fortress), on whose site the Neues Rathaus was built.