Leipzig

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Leipzig

^* (Sorbian/Lusatian: Lipsk) is the largest city in the Federal State (Bundesland) of Saxony in Germany. The name is derived from the Slavic word (see Sorbian) Lipsk (= "settlement where the linden trees stand"). It is situated at the confluence of the Rivers Pleiße, White Elster and Parthe. Leipzig has a population of 502,000. In 2006, it was found to be Europe's cheapest city.http://www.citymayors.com/features/cost_survey.html

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.

Nobel Prize laureate Werner Heisenberg worked as a physics professor at Leipzig University from 1927 to 1942.

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."

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. The U.S. later ceded the city to the Red Army, and it 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 also the German candidate for the 2012 Summer Olympics, but didn't make it into the final list of bidders.

Leipzig was the venue for the FIFA 2006 World Cup draw, and has hosted four of the First Round Group matches and one 1/8 Final Match.

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

Buildings

Städtisches Kaufhaus (English: Municipal Store - name is misleading, world's first sample fair building, today home to offices, retail and restaurants)

Völkerschlachtdenkmal (English: Battle Of The Nations Monument)

Gewandhaus (English: Cloth Hall or garb-house - name is misleading, as today's third Gewandhaus is home to the Gewandhaus orchestra, also see history of Städtisches Kaufhaus)

Twinning

Leipzig is twinned with:

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia since 2004
Birmingham, England (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, Texas, 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

Sights

Besides the Völkerschlachtdenkmal mentioned above, among Leipzig's noteworthy institutions there are also the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the opera house, Oper Leipzig, and the Leipzig Zoo, which houses the world's largest facilities for primates. Additionally, Leipzig has an international trade fair ground in the north of the city with the world's largest levitated glass hall. (Leipzig Trade Fair) Further you can find the Nikolaikirche (Church of St. Nikolai or Nicholas), which was a starting point of peaceful demonstrations for the reunification of Germany.

Events

Wave Gotik Treffen at Pentecost
Bachfest (Festival about Johann Sebastian Bach)
Stadtfest (city festival)
Christmas market since 1767
Honky Tonk (live music festival in over 100 pubs)

Transportation

References

External links

The city's official website: http://www.leipzig.de/int/en/
Gallery of Leipzig photos: http://www.leipzig-picture.com/
Leipzig links in the Open Directory Project (DMOZ): http://dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/Germany/States/Saxony/Localities/Leipzig/

Cities in Saxony | Leipzig

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