Leipzig
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| Country | Germany |
| State | Saxony |
| Administrative region | Leipzig |
| District | urban district |
| Population | 502,000 (2006) |
| Area | 297.60 km² |
| Population density | 1,677 /km² |
| Elevation | 113 m |
| Coordinates | 51°20′ N 12°23′ E |
| Postal code | 04003-04357 |
| Area code | 0341 |
| Licence plate code | L |
| Mayor | Burkhard Jung (SPD) |
| Website | leipzig.de |
Leipzig [ˈlaɪ̯pʦɪç] (Sorbian/Lusatian: Lipsk) is the largest city in the federal state of Saxony in Germany with a population of 502,000. The name is derived from the Slavic word Lipsk, which means "settlement where the linden trees stand". It is situated at the confluence of the Rivers Pleiße, White Elster and Parthe.
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[edit] History
First documented in 1015, and endowed with city and market privileges in 1165, the city of Leipzig has fundamentally shaped the history of Saxony and of Germany. Leipzig has always been known as a place of commerce. The Leipzig Trade Fair, which began in the middle ages, became an event of international importance; especially as a point of contact to the East-European economic bloc (Comecon) of which East Germany was a member.
The foundation of the University of Leipzig in 1409 initiated the city's development into a center of German law and the publishing industry, and towards being a location of the Reichsgericht (Supreme Court), and the German National Library (founded in 1912). Johann Sebastian Bach worked in Leipzig from 1723 to 1750, at the St. Thomas Lutheran church, and Richard Wagner, the composer, was born in Leipzig in 1813. Later in the same year, the Leipzig region was the arena of the Battle of the Nations. In 1913 a monument, the Völkerschlachtdenkmal, celebrating the hundred year anniversary of this event was finished.
The importance of the Trade Fair and the University to the creation of a vibrant urban life and city politics from the Reformation through the Nineteenth Century cannot be underestimated. Leipzig became a center of the German and Saxon liberal movements.
Having been a terminal of the first German long distance railroad (1839, to Dresden, the capital of Saxony), Leipzig became a hub of Central-European railroad traffic, with a renowned station building, now the largest terminal station (by area) in Europe.
Leipzig expanded rapidly towards one million inhabitants. Huge Gründerzeit areas were built, which survived, for the greater part, the War and after war demolitions. Nowadays these areas are unique in modern Germany. The decline of the number of inhabitants however remain a threat to these precious rich decorated remains of once Imperial Germany. Source: Press
The first German labour party, the General German Workers' Association (in German Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiterverein, ADAV) was founded in Leipzig on 23 May 1863 by Ferdinand Lassalle; about 600 workers from across Germany travelled to it using the new railway line.
On November 9, 1938, on a night now known as Kristallnacht, Nazis in Leipzig destroyed Jewish synagogues and establishments in Leipzig as they did all over Germany. An U.S. official in Leipzig described what he saw of the atrocities. "Having demolished dwellings and hurled most of the moveable effects to the streets," he wrote, "the insatiably sadistic perpetrators threw many of the trembling inmates into a small stream that flows through the zoological park, commanding horrified spectators to spit at them, defile them with mud and jeer at their plight." [citation needed]Many of the Jews were forced to wear cummerbunds inscribed with phrases from Mein Kampf.
The city was heavily damaged by Allied bombing during World War II.
American troops of the 69th Infantry Division captured the city on April 20, 1945, Adolf Hitler's 56th and final birthday. A few months later the U.S. ceded the city to the Red Army as it pulled back from the line of contact with Soviet forces in July 1945 to the pre-designated occupation zone bounderies. Leipzig became one of the major cities of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
In 1989, after prayers for peace at the Nikolai Church (established in 1983 as part of the peace-movement), the Monday demonstrations started as the most prominent mass protest against the East German regime.
Leipzig was the German candidate for the 2012 Summer Olympics, but didn't make it into the final list of bidders.
In 2006 Leipzig was found to be Europe's cheapest city.[1]
The German Football Association DFB was founded in Leipzig in 1900. The city was the venue for the FIFA 2006 World Cup draw, and hosted four first round matches and one match of the last sixteen round.
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[edit] Education
Leipzig University, founded 1409, is one of Europe's oldest universities. Nobel Prize laureate Werner Heisenberg worked here as a physics professor (from 1927 to 1942), as did Nobel Prize laureates Gustav Ludwig Hertz (physics), Wilhelm Ostwald (chemistry) and Theodor Mommsen (Nobel Prize in literature). Other former staff of faculty include mineralogist Georg Agricola, writer Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, philosopher Ernst Bloch, eccentric founder of psychophysics Gustav Theodor Fechner, and psychologist Wilhelm Wundt. Among the university's many noteworthy students are writers Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Erich Kästner, philosophers Gottfried Leibniz and Friedrich Nietzsche, political activist Karl Liebknecht, as well as composer Richard Wagner. Germany's chancellor since 2006, Angela Merkel, studied physics at Leipzig University.
The University of Music and Theatre had been established in 1843 first as a music conservatory. One of its founders was renowned composer Felix Mendelssohn. A broad range of subjects can be studied (artistic or teacher training) in all orchestral instruments, voice, interpretation, coaching, piano chamber music, orchestral conducting, choir conducting and musical composition. Musical styles also include jazz, popular music, musicals, early music and church music. In addition, the drama departments teach acting and dramaturgy. Advanced students may, after a test, stand in for members of the Gewandhaus Orchestra. In 2006, approximately 900 students are enrolled at the school.
The "Academy of Visual Arts" was established 1764. Its 530 students (as of 2006) are enrolled in the courses "Painting/Graphics", "Book design/Graphic design", "Photography" or "Media art". The school also houses an "Institute for Theory".
The private "Leipzig Graduate School of Management" is the oldest business school in Germany.
Among the research institutes located in Leipzig three belong to the Max Planck Society (e.g. cognitive and neurosciences) and two are Fraunhofer Society-institutes. Others are the "Centre for Environmental Research", part of the Helmholtz Association, and the "Leibniz-Institute for Tropospheric Research".
[edit] Economy
Companies in or around Leipzig include:
DHL is in the process of transferring the bulk of its European air operations to Leipzig/Halle Airport.
[edit] Media
MDR, one of Germany's public-broadcasters, has its headquarters and main television studios in the city. It also provides programs to various TV and radio networks and has its own symphony orchestra, choir and a ballet.
Leipziger Volkszeitung (LVZ) is the city's only daily newspaper. Founded in 1894, it has since been in print under several different forms of government. The monthly magazine Kreuzer specializes on culture, festivities and the arts in Leipzig.
Once known for its large number of publishing houses, Leipzig had been called "Buch-Stadt" (book city). But few are left after the years of the German Democratic Republic, the most notable of them being branches of Brockhaus and Insel Verlag. Reclam, founded in 1828, was one of the large publishing houses to move away. The "German Library" (Deutsche Bücherei) in Leipzig is part of Germany's National Library.
[edit] Main sights
- Thomaskirche (St Thomas' Church): Most famous as the place where Johann Sebastian Bach worked as a cantor and still home to the renowned Thomaner choir
- Völkerschlachtdenkmal (Battle of the Nations Monument): the biggest war monument in Europe, built to remember the successful battle against Napoleonic troops
- Gewandhaus: home to the famous Gewandhaus Orchestra, it is today's third building of the same name
- Altes Rathaus: the old city hall was built in 1556 and now houses a museum of the city's history
- Neues Rathaus: the city hall was built upon the remains of the Pleißenburg, a castle which in 1519 had been the site of the debate between Johann Eck and Martin Luther
- City-Hochhaus Leipzig: Built in 1972, it was once part of the university and is the city's tallest building
- Auerbach's Keller: A young Goethe ate and drank here while studying in Leipzig; it is the venue of a scene from, and the only real place in, his Faust
- Städtisches Kaufhaus (municipal department store): the world's first sample fair building and today home to offices, retail stores and restaurants (its name is misleading, as it is privately owned)
- Bundesverwaltungsgericht: Germany's federal administrative court was the site of the highest state court between 1888 and 1945 (Reichsgericht)
Among Leipzig's noteworthy institutions are also the opera house and the Leipzig Zoo, which houses the world's largest facilities for primates. The Nikolaikirche (Church of St. Nikolai/Nicholas) is known to have been the starting point of peaceful demonstrations for the reunification of Germany. Leipzig's international trade fair in the north of the city is home to the world's largest levitated glass hall. Leipzig is also known for its passage ways through houses and buildings.
[edit] Annual events
- Bachfest: Johann Sebastian Bach-festival
- Stadtfest: city festival
- Christmas market (since 1767)
- Dokfestival: International festival for documented and animated film
- Jazztage: contemporary jazz festival
- A capella: vocal music festival
- Wave Gotik Treffen at Pentecost: world's largest goth or "dark culture" festival
- GC - Games Convention: video game & developers convention
[edit] Transportation
Leipzig is situated at a junction of important north-to-south and west-to-east railway lines. In the vicinity of the city are two airports: Leipzig/Halle Airport and Altenburg-Nobitz Airport.
[edit] Quotations
Mein Leipzig lob' ich mir! Es ist ein klein Paris und bildet seine Leute. (I praise my Leipzig! It is a small Paris and educates its people.) - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in Faust
[edit] Sister cities
Leipzig is twinned with:
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia since 2004
Birmingham, United Kingdom (Birmingham's Partner City page) since 1992
Bologna, Italy since 1962, renewed in 1997
Brno, Czech Republic since 1973, renewed in 1999
Frankfurt am Main, Germany since 1990- Hanover, Germany since 1987
Houston, USA since 1993
Kiev, Ukraine since 1961, renewed in 1992
Kraków, Poland since 1973, renewed in 1995
Lyon, France since 1981
Nanjing, China since 1988
Thessaloniki, Greece since 1984
Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2003
[edit] Notable residents
- George J. Adler, (1821-1868), born in Leipzig, noted philologist, compiler of Dictionary of German and English Languages, went insane from stress of publishing it [2]
- Johann Sebastian Bach
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Felix Mendelssohn
- Richard Wagner
- Gustav Fechner, (1801-1887), eccentric founder of psychophysics and noted satirist (under the pseudonym 'Dr. Mises') who was appointed professor of physics at Leipzig University in 1834. Although he resigned his position at the university in 1840 due to health problems, Leipzig remained his home for the rest of his life.
- Friedrich Schiller, (1759-1805), German poet and philosopher, lived in Leipzig for a time after fleeing Stuttgart.
- Robert Schumann, (1810-1856), German composer
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.citymayors.com/features/cost_survey.html
- ^ (1963) Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who.
