Leipzig
Saxony'S Largest City: Bach'S Thomaskirche And Choir, The Nikolaikirche Where The 1989 Monday Demonstrations Began, The Battle Of The Nations Monument, And The Spinnerei Mill Turned Gallery Quarter · Leipzig, Saxony
Leipzig is Saxony's largest city and does two things at once. Bach spent twenty-seven years as cantor at the Thomaskirche and is buried in it, the Thomanerchor still sings there at the weekend, and the Bachfest takes over the city in June. And in autumn 1989 the peace prayers at the Nikolaikirche spilled out into the Monday demonstrations that put hundreds of thousands of people on the ring road and helped bring the GDR down; the Zeitgeschichtliches Forum and the Stasi museum in the Runde Ecke tell that story where it happened. Beyond the two churches there is the Voelkerschlachtdenkmal, the enormous 1913 monument to the Battle of the Nations with a stair to the top; Auerbachs Keller, the cellar tavern Goethe put in Faust; the Spinnerei, a vast cotton mill west of the centre turned into galleries where the New Leipzig School painters work; and the Karl-Heine-Kanal to paddle. An hour and a quarter from Berlin by fast train. It is a working, slightly scruffy city rather than a pretty one, and better for it.
Leipzig city centre inside the ring, with the Thomaskirche, the Nikolaikirche and the Spinnerei west of it, Saxony, Leipzig, Saxony, Germany
The centre inside the ring is open street and free. The Thomaskirche and the Nikolaikirche are normally open daily with free entry and close to sightseers during services; the Thomanerchor motets are usually on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon in term, with a small charge, and the Sunday mass is free - confirm, as concert and term dates move. The Bach Museum, the Zeitgeschichtliches Forum, the Runde Ecke Stasi museum, the Grassi museums and the Museum der bildenden Kuenste keep museum hours and most close Mondays; the Zeitgeschichtliches Forum has normally been free entry - confirm. The Voelkerschlachtdenkmal is open daily with shorter winter hours and the viewing platform shuts in high wind. Spinnerei galleries open Tuesday to Saturday afternoons, and all at once on the twice-yearly open weekends - confirm.