Leipzig

As mentioned in a previous post, we went on a tour of Leipzig last weekend. Our guide was a historian who attends our Church. Until that time, we had done surprisingly little "touristy" things in the city. Here are a few pictures.

Johann Sebastian Bach worked in Leipzig for over 25 years, at the Thomaskirche (Thomas Church). He was at the Thomasschule (Thomas School), and led a boys choir that still exists today. He also composed many of his works in this city. Here is a picture of us at his statue, which is located outside the Thomaskirche.

The MDR building is one of the highest in the city. It used to belong to the university, and was built in DDR times. From the top, you have a great view of the whole city.

Here is a picture of the Neues Rathous (new town hall) from the top. It was finished in 1905, and doesn't look that new... but the old one was built in 1557! The neues Rathaus was built on the site of an old castle, so the architecture was designed to remind you of this.

Here is another view from the MDR building. This time, you can just see in the distance through the fog, a rather large monument. The monument is called the Völkerschlachtdenkmals (memorial to the battle of the nations). It's a large monument to commemorate the battle between Napoleon and a coalition of other nations, which occurred at Leipzig. This was one of the three significant defeats for Napolean. The other two being the failed invasion of Russia, and Waterloo.

Another famous church is the Nikolaikirche (Saint Nicholas Church). During DDR times, this church held a prayer meeting/service every Monday to pray for peace. Afterwards, the people would make a peaceful walk throughout the city. During the turbulent times in the 1980s, where communism crumbled throughout eastern europe, more and more people started to come to the Monday prayer meeting and the subsequent march. Not everyone was interested in prayer, though, and only joined for the march, which was called Montagsdemonstration (Monday demonstration). The march was at pains to ensure no violence, and so they held candles (it's hard to throw stones and run around while nursing a candle, and you can be easily seen from a distance). Within living memory was a violent put-down of popular protest in the early days of the DDR - there was a real fear that this might happen again. The turning point came when the Stasi (DDR secret police) were ordered to arrest all the protesters. Unfortunately for them, on that day there were far more people than they were expecting, and there were not enough places to store all the prisoners if they were to follow their plans. The Stasi reported this to main headquarters and waited for a response. While they waited, they did nothing, and then it was too late. The marchers had spread out throughout the city and were unstoppable. Parallel protests throughout the whole DDR forced die Wende (the change) to occur, the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the reunficiation of germany. Even now, Monday is still the day of protests, and many Monday afternoons you will find a demonstration marching through the city. All this started at the Nikolaikirche monday prayer meeting. Unfortunately we don't have a photo of this church for you, but here is a link to a photo of the Montagsdemonstration.

www.dhm.de/lemo/objekte/pict/DieDeutscheEinheit_photoMontagsdemonstrationInLeipzig/