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LEIPZIG - TOURIST INFORMATION |
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Leipzig Tourist Information
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"Leipzig Tourist Information
Leipzig
Leipzig (German pronunciation: [ˈlaɪptsɪç] (Speaker Icon.svg listen); Upper Sorbian: Lipsk) is, with a population of 515,459, the largest city in the federal state of Saxony, Germany.
History
Leipzig's name is derived from the Slavic word Lipsk, which means "settlement where the lime trees stand".
First documented in 1015 in the chronicles of Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg and endowed with city and market privileges in 1165 by Otto the Rich, 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, is the oldest remaining trade fair in the world. It became an event of international importance.
The foundation of the University of Leipzig in 1409 initiated the city's development into a centre of German law and the publishing industry, and towards being a location of the Reichsgericht (High Court), and the German National Library (founded in 1912). The philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was born in Leipzig in 1646, and attended the university from 1661–1666.
The 19th century
The Leipzig region was the arena of the Battle of the Nations, which ended Napoleon's run of conquest in Europe, and led to his first exile on Elba. In 1913, the Völkerschlachtdenkmal monument celebrating the centenary of this event was completed.
A terminal of the first German long distance railway to Dresden (the capital of Saxony), in 1839, Leipzig became a hub of Central European railway traffic, with the renowned Leipzig Central railway station, the largest terminal station by area in Europe.
Leipzig expanded rapidly towards one million inhabitants. Huge Gründerzeit areas were built, which mostly survived the war and post-war demolition.
Leipzig became a centre of the German and Saxon liberal movements. The first German labour party, the General German Workers' Association (Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiterverein, ADAV) was founded in Leipzig on 23 May 1863 by Ferdinand Lassalle; about 600 workers from across Germany travelled to the foundation on the new railway line.
The 20th century
The city's mayor from 1930 to 1937, Carl Friedrich Goerdeler was a noted opponent of the Nazi regime in Germany. He resigned in 1937 when, in his absence, his Nazi deputy ordered the destruction of the city's statue of Felix Mendelssohn. On Kristallnacht in 1938, one of the city's most architecturally significant buildings, the 1855 Moorish Revival Leipzig synagogue was deliberately destroyed.
The city was also heavily damaged by Allied bombing during World War II. American troops of the 69th Infantry Division captured the city on 20 April 1945. The U.S. turned over the city to the Red Army as it pulled back from the line of contact with Soviet forces in July 1945 to the pre-designated occupation zone boundaries. Leipzig became one of the major cities of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
In the mid-20th century, the city's Trade Fair assumed renewed importance as a point of contact with the Comecon Eastern Europe economic bloc, of which East Germany was a member.
In October 1989, after prayers for peace at St. Nicholas' 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 the German candidate for the 2012 Summer Olympics, but did not make it to the short list."
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