Leipzig - Nikolaikirche

Even before Leipzig was first mentioned in a document in 1015, a Slavic settlement existed here. The city was founded in 1165 when Margrave Otto the Rich of Meissen granted city and market rights to the city at the intersection of the Via Regia and the Via Imperii.

Leipzig was in the Margraviate of Meissen, which became part of the Electorate of Saxony in 1439. Leipzig then belonged to the Duchy of Saxony, whose capital was chosen to be Dresden, which had been insignificant compared to Leipzig or Meissen. Leipzig was often the place where the state parliament met, but Leipzig was never a residence city or a bishop's seat and has always been shaped by the urban bourgeoisie.

The University of Leipzig was founded in 1409 as "Alma Mater Lipsiensis" and was thus one of the three oldest universities in Germany. After being elevated to the status of "Reichsmessestadt" (imperial trade fair city) in 1497 and an extension of the staple right by the future Emperor Maximilian I, Leipzig became a trade fair city of European standing. It developed into the most important German trading center for the exchange of goods between Eastern and Western Europe. Alongside London, the Leipziger Brühl became the international trade center for the fur industry, and the important role played by the Leipzig Jewish community was closely linked to it.

In 1539, the Reformation was finally introduced in Leipzig by Luther and Justus Jonas. Over decades, the development of Leipzig was characterized above all by the constantly improving living conditions. As a trading and trade fair city of increasing importance, Leipzig benefited from the wealthy Leipzig merchant class.

The Thirty Years' War was a severe cut in the prosperous development of the city. Between 1631 and 1642 the city was besieged five times, from 1642 to 1650 it was occupied by the Swedes.

The "Völkerschlacht" (Battle of Leipzig) near Leipzig took place in 1813. In this battle, the allied armies of Austria, Prussia, Russia and Sweden defeated Napoleon's troops and their allies which ultimately led to Napoleon's banishment to the island of Elba.

The Nikolaikirche is the oldest and largest church in downtown Leipzig. The church was built in Romanesque style from 1165 on after Leipzig was granted city and market rights. In the 15th and 16th centuries, after Leipzig became extremely prosperous thanks to silver discoveries in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains), it was expanded and completely converted into a three-aisled, late Gothic hall church.

The Reformation began in Leipzig in 1539 with the sermons of the reformers Justus Jonas the Elder and Martin Luther.

German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was baptized here in 1646. Johann Sebastian Bach performed numerous of his cantatas and oratorios for the first time with the Thomanerchor here, including the St. John Passion, his most extensive work up to that point, on Good Friday, April 7, 1724.

Despite the policy of state atheism in East Germany, a Christian pastor regularly met with his congregation at St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig for prayer from 1982 onward.
In Leipzig, the demonstrations began on 4 September 1989 after the weekly "Friedensgebet" (prayer for peace) in the Nikolaikirche and eventually filled the nearby Karl Marx Square (today known again as Augustusplatz). Safe in the knowledge that the Lutheran Church supported their resistance, many dissatisfied East German citizens gathered in the court of the church, and non-violent demonstrations began in order to demand rights such as the freedom to travel and to elect a democratic government. Over the next seven years, the crowd grew, despite authorities barricading the streets leading to it, and after church services, peaceful candlelit marches took place. The secret police issued death threats and even attacked some of the marchers, but the crowd still continued to gather.

On 9 October 1989, the police and army units were given permission to use force against those assembled, but this did not deter the church service and march from taking place along the inner city ring road, which gathered 70,000 people. On 16 October 1989, 120,000 demonstrators turned up, with military units again being held on stand-by in the vicinity. The week after, the number more than doubled to 320,000. This pressure and other key events eventually led to the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, marking the imminent end of the socialist GDR regime.