St. Thomas Church, Leipzig

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For other churches with the same or similar name, please see St. Thomas' Church.

The Thomaskirche in Leipzig

The Thomaskirche (St. Thomas Church) is a Lutheran church in Leipzig, Germany. It is most famous as the place where Johann Sebastian Bach worked as a cantor.

1 History
2 Choir
3 Organs
4 Gallery
5 External links

[edit] History

There has been a church at the current site of the Thomaskirche since the 12th century. After several reconstructions (remains of an earlier Romanesque church were found during archaeological excavations), the current building, an example of Gothic architecture, was consecrated on 10 April 1496 by the Bishop of Merseburg. The reformer Martin Luther preached here in 1539. Today, it is a Lutheran church.

The tower was first built in 1537 and reconstructed in 1702, leading to its current height of 68 m. The roof above the vaulted ceiling is one of the steepest in Germany, with a roof pitch of 63 degrees.

After the destruction of the Leipzig Johanneskirche in World War II, the remains of Johann Sebastian Bach were moved from there to the Thomaskirche in 1950. The current altar, installed in 1993, is the former Gothic altar of the Paulinerkirche, the university church of the University of Leipzig, destroyed in 1968 by the Communist authorities.

[edit] Choir

The Thomanerchor, the choir of the Thomaskirche, was founded in 1212 and is one of the oldest and most famous boys' choirs in Germany. It is headed by the Thomaskantor, an office that has been held by many well-known composers and musicians, including Johann Sebastian Bach from 1723 until his death in 1750.

[edit] Organs

Another notable feature of the Thomaskirche is that it contains two organs. The older one is a Romantic organ by Wilhelm Sauer, built from 1885-1889. Since this organ is not suitable for Bach's music, a second organ was built by Gerald Woehl's organ building company from 1999-2000. This "Bach organ" was designed to look similar to the old organ on which Bach had played in the Paulinerkirche.