The lovingly and expensively restored old town offers a plethora of famous sights. First of all there is the Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas’s Church),about 900 years old and thus the oldest church in town. It became world famous in the year of re-unification 1989 as the place for the legendary peace prayers and the central starting point of the non-violent resistance. Besides St. Nicholas’s church the late Gothic Thomaskirche (St. Thomas’s Church) is the second well-known church in the town. It is the traditional venue for the famous St. Thomas choir and harbours the tomb of Johann Sebastian Bach. The Alte Rathaus (old town hall) dating from the 16th century forms the centre-point of the old town. This grand building, 90 metres long, is one of the most beautiful Renaissance buildings in Germany. Directly next to it is the old stock exchange with its magnificently decorated facade.

A further Leipzig landmark, the famous Völkerschlachtdenkmal (Battle of Leipzig monument), does not belong to the old town but can be found in front of the Leipzig gates. This is the largest memorial building in Europe and was built in memory of the victory over Napoleon’s troops in 1813. The interior of the gigantic three hundred ton colossus is divided into three sections: in the crypt 16 stone warriors are holding a wake for the fallen. On the ground floor is the Ruhmeshalle (Hall of Honour) with its imposing ten metre high figures and at the top is the dome level with 324 almost life-size statues of men on horseback. There is a wonderful view of the countryside and the town from the viewing platform, about 91 metres up.

At the latest since the arrival of Johann Sebastian Bach in 1723 Leipzig has been regarded as a music town. Other great composers such as Richard Wagner, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Albert Lortzing and Gustav Mahler have also left their mark on the town. This centuries old musical heritage is still alive today: numerous world-class ensembles are regularly to be heard here. Surely one of the most famous is the Thomanerchor, so full of tradition. Formed in 1212 at the Augustine monastery, this world-famous boys’ choir is more than 50 years older than the town of Leipzig. If desired the choir can be heard for a small contribution of 2 Euro every Friday and Saturday afternoon at the St. Thomas’s Church (except during holidays and when the choir performs elsewhere).

The 250 years old Gewandhausorchester is at least as well known. It is the oldest civil concert orchestra in Germany and the largest professional orchestra in the world. The symphony and chamber music evenings in the Gewandhaus are a MUST for all lovers of classical music.

Also the Oper Leipzig can look back over a 300-year tradition and has already twice been awarded the European accolade “Opera House of the Year”. It houses one of the top ballet ensembles in Europe.

The folk of Leipzig, the “Leipzscher” are well known for their loose tongues. It is, therefore, no wonder that the town’s satirical theatres are almost as famous as the Leipzig Fair. Even before the German re-unification political cabaret was a common, if not altogether popular, event in Leipzig. Today numerous stages offer a broad selection of styles, from the political to the modern comedy.

You cannot ignore, for example, the Academixer and the Leipziger Pfeffermühle, which had already been spreading a trace of the freedom of expression with their pointed texts and bitingly ironic humour in the former GDR period. New venues to have sprung up in the last few years are the cabarets LeipzigerFunzel, SanftWut and LeipzigerBrettl. The latter is definitely worth a visit, if only because of its location in the “Riquet”, the most beautiful coffeehouse in the town.

Although not a true satirical theatre, the KrystallpalastVarieté with its typically dimly lit revue ambience offers entertainment par excellence. The blend of acrobatics and magic, of comedy and music is first class and whisks away its audience into unforgettable dream worlds.

The museum landscape in Leipzig is multi-faceted. The Stadtgeschichtliche Museum (museum of town history) in the old town hall gives you an overview of the history of this old exhibition centre under the headline “Leipzig’s Never-ending History”. It contains over 500,000 exhibits and is one of the largest museums of cultural history in Germany. The Zeitgeschichtliche Forum Leipzig (Forum of Contemporary History) and the Stasi-Museum “Runde Ecke” (Round Corner) give a very impressive account of the story of the Soviet occupation and the GDR after 1945. The Museum der bildenden Künste (museum of visual arts), housed in an imposing cube structure on the Sachsen Square, takes its visitors on a foray through the history of art, from the old masters to the modern. Highlights are the works of Lucas Cranach the Elder and the Leipzig artists Max Klinger, Max Liebermann, Lovis Corinth, Oskar Kokoschka and Max Beckmann. Bach’s 27 years in Leipzig are the theme of the Bach archives in the Bach-Museums. There are valuable manuscripts and music sheets as well as historicinstruments to be admired here. The Mendelssohn-Museum renders homage to another great composer, the former Gewandhaus Director of Music, Felix-Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. And finally, in the Grassimuseum complex on the Johannisplatz, there are the Musikinstrumenten-Museum (musical instruments) with 5,000 exhibits from five centuries, the Museum für Kunsthandwerk (arts and crafts) and the Museum für Völkerkunde (ethnology)with collections on the theme of international tolerance and understanding.

The Leipzig Fair has a lot of tradition behind it – it was already in 1497 that Emperor Maximilan granted the town the imperial fair privilege. The breakthrough to become one of the most important fair locations in Germany came about at the end of the 19^th century when Leipzig discovered the sample fair. At last it was no longer necessary to transport all your wares into the town. Instead the traders were able to exhibit selected samples of their wares in the trade buildings and passages especially erected for this purpose in the town centre. This was a real revolution for those times! Another hundred years later in 1996 Europe’s most modern exhibition complex was opened in Seehausen, having taken only three years to build. The centre-point is the gigantic semicircular glass and steel building about 240 metres long and 80 metres wide. Throughout the complex works of 22 modern artist and craftsmen are distributed and invite you to view and be amazed. As a matter of interest: a self-designed robot cleans the 5500 panes of the glass and steel building…