Shopping and hospitality
Leipzig is a dynamic centre of business and the arts. Leipzig’s heart beats in its very compact city centre measuring just 1 square kilometre or little more than a third of a square mile. The former trade show buildings and arcades painstakingly restored since 1990 now contain numerous shops, restaurants and cafés. Leipzig Central Station is also great for shopping – for as well as being one of the biggest railway terminuses in Europe, in 1997 a shopping mall was opened there with about 140 shops, restaurants and cafés open until 10pm.
Leipzig’s pub districts also contain several restaurants and cafés and are marvellous for checking out some of Leipzig’s exciting nightlife. There are three main ones in Leipzig: Drallewatsch (the Barfussgässchen area), Schauspielviertel (the district centring on Gottschedstrasse) and Südmeile (in and around Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse). Alternatively, the 450-year-old underground vaults of the Moritzbastei harbour Europe’s biggest student club with a diverse mix of dance, live music and catering for young and old alike.
When it comes to hotels, guests have a wide choice of more than 11,500 beds in all categories. Alongside internationally famous hotel chains, several typical Saxon guesthouses and bed & breakfast establishments are available.

Sights and history
Visitors to Leipzig will discover many of the sights just by taking a stroll through the pedestrian-friendly city centre. The Mädler Passage, for centuries the city’s most exclusive arcade, is home to the famous Auerbachs Keller. Serving wine since 1525, this tavern was immortalised in Faust by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, the father of German literature. The café-cum-restaurant Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum is one of Europe’s oldest coffee houses and used to number Robert Schumann among its regulars. Nowadays the museum there contains an exhibition on the history of coffee – the Saxons’ ‘national drink’.
The Old City Hall, one of the finest Renaissance buildings in Germany, can be admired on the Market Square and houses the Museum of City History. To the rear is the Old Stock Exchange fronted by a statue of Goethe. Goethe studied in Leipzig, affectionately referring to the city as Little Paris: “You’re right! Leipzig’s the place for me! ’Tis quite a little Paris; people there/ Acquire a certain easy finish’d air.”
St Nicholas’s Church, the oldest and biggest church in Leipzig, rose to fame in 1989 as the cradle of the Peaceful Revolution. Services for peace were (and still are) held here every Monday – and the following demonstrations at the end of the 1980s finally toppled the East German government, paving the way for German reunification.

Music and museums
All visitors to Leipzig are drawn to St Thomas’s Church, home of the world-famous St Thomas’s Boys Choir and where Johann Sebastian Bach was employed for 27 years as organist and choirmaster. His grave can be seen in the chancel of St Thomas’s. The Bach Museum is situated opposite St Thomas’s Church.
Another regular musical highlight is the Sunday recitals at Mendelssohn House. Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy himself used to live in the building, which now contains the only museum in the world dedicated to the composer.
Two more important centres of music are to be found on the redesigned Augustusplatz: Leipzig Opera House and the Gewandhaus concert hall. The Gewandhaus Orchestra, which dates back more than 250 years, regularly performs in both venues.

Information provided by Leipzig Tourismus und Marketing GmbH

Pictures: Andreas Schmidt