Museums
Grassi Museum
Includes the Museum of Applied Arts, the Musik Museum, and Museum of Ethnology.
Naturkundemuseum
The nature museum, filled with all kinds of taxidermy creatures. As of January 2011, city officials are pondering plans of closing the museum soon and reopening it in a different location later with a redesigned exhibition.
Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst
Changing exhibitions of contemporary art.
Torhaus Dölitz
Exhibition of pewter figures in historically-themed dioramas. The location, the gatehouse and only remainder of an old manor, was one of the hotspots in the battles of the Napoleonic wars.
Deutsches Kleingärtnermuseum
Zeitgeschichtliches Forum
Opened in 1999, this is a museum about the GDR. There is one permanent exhibition about the life in the GDR and the fall of the GDR; the other exhibition changes aprox. every two month and has similar topics.
Museum Der Bildenden Kunste
Housed in a glass cube, this museum features paintings from the 15th century through today. Highlights include paintings by local artists Max Beckman and Max Klinger, as well as Caspar David Friedrich, Lucas Cranach the Younger, and Claude Monet.
Universitätsbibliothek Bibliotheca Albertina
The university's library.
Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum
A museum about coffee and coffee culture in Europe's oldest continuously operating coffee house (http://www.coffe-baum.de/).
Schulmuseum
History of schooling
Sächsisches Apothekenmuseum
Pharmacy museum
Museum at the Round Corner
Housed in the former Stasi headquarters, this is an interesting museum documenting the Stasi DDR secret police and its methods of controlling and manipulating the people. Displays are in German - there is not much English inside. English audio guides are available for 3â¬.
Architecture
WaldstraÃenviertel
Europe's largest uninterrupted Gründerzeit district.
Plagwitz
An industrial district whose time of glory has passed. Many of its factories died a slow death during the GDR years, which suddenly became visible with the re-unification of Germany. Today it is a mixture of old industrial buildings, some in ruins and others repurposed; fallow land; and new developments. Walk around Karl-Heine-StraÃe between Felsenkeller and the railway station Bahnhof Plagwitz, WeiÃenfelon ser StraÃe and GieÃerstraÃe to get a feeling for the place, or walk the path alongside the Karl-Heine-Kanal. May appear a bit spooky at night.
Meyersche Häuser
Herrmann Julius Meyer, owner of a publishing company, initiated in the late 19th century several development projects to provide adequate but cheap housing to factory workers and their families.
Stalin era architecture
Curved to follow the street, huge like a castle -- Leipzig's most prominent relict of the Stalin era sits at the Ring next to the Gewandhaus.
Modern highrise buildings
Besides the tower of the new townhall and the Völkerschlachtenkmal, three highrise buildings shape the skyline of Leipzig. The City-Hochhaus Augustusplatz was originally built as part of the university campus but sold to private investors in the 1990s. The Wintergartenhochhaus next to the Hauptbahnhof WintergartenstraÃe is an apartment building. The Westin hotel was erected in the late 1970s and opened in 1981 as Hotel Merkur.
Early highrise buildings
You can see two early highrise buildings by the standards of their time around Augustusplatz. One is the Krochhochaus on the western side of the square, which you can see in the background of the fountain photo above. The other is the Europahaus in the southeastern corner of the square, across the street from the Gewandhaus.
Romanushaus and Fregehaus
Baroque architecture.
Rundling
Apartment houses in concentric circles, built in the late 1920s/early 1930s. Streets named after characters from the Song of the Nibelungs.
Other sights
University of Leipzig Botanical Garden
It's the oldest one in Germany and one of the first in the world.
Leipzig Zoo
Although pricey, this is one of the largest and best known zoos in Germany. New elephants' enclosure has a swimming pool where you can watch the elephants bathing from under the water level. Visit the Gondwanaland tropical species exhibit and the monkey house.
Bayerischer Bahnhof
Germany's oldest preserved railway station, built in 1842, only 7 years after the first train line of Germany had been opened. The station is no longer in use but one can still view the portal. In the course of the construction of the city tunnel the entire portal was moved away and later relocated to its original place. A new underground station has been built underneath but is not yet accessible to the public.
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The national library of Germany collects works published in Germany or in the German language. It consists of three buildings from different epochs: the original main building opened in 1916 with two later extensions integrated, a windowless depot tower from the late 70s/early 80s, and book-shaped fourth extension to be opened in May 2011. The center of the main building is a large reading room worth a visit just for its atmosphere. If you wish to use the library or just move around freely you will have to pay a fee and provide government-issued photo ID. If you ask the security guards nicely, they may accompany you to the entrance of the reading room and let you glimpse into it. No photography.
Reichsgericht
Located across the ring southwest of the New Town Hall Neues Rathaus, the appearance of this building resembles the original look of the Reichstag in Berlin. It was built from 1888 to 1895 for the Court of the German Empire Reichsgericht, the highest court of the Reich. During the GDR years the building served a variety of uses and hosted the Museum der Bildenden Künste. After refurbishment, the Federal Administrative Court Bundesverwaltungsgericht moved into the Reichsgericht building in 2002. You can visit the entrance hall, the large courtroom, and the Reichsgerichtsmuseum with an exhibition on the history of the building. Visitor access may get restricted without prior notice if the work of the court requires it.
Völkerschlachtdenkmal
At 91m tall, this is the biggest monument in Europe, commemorating the Battle of Leipzig in the Napoleonic Wars, in which the combined Prussian, Austrian, and Russian forces defeated Napoleon at a cost of 100,000 lives. The top platform can be visited steep, narrow stairs. Every summer, the 'bath tub' race is held in the reflecting pool below.
Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei
A converted cotton mill in the Plagwitz industrial district, today providing work and exhibition rooms to artists.
Fair-houses and passages
Städtisches Kaufhaus
Jägerhofpassage
Calm atmosphere in the middle of the city. Inside you'll find the arthouse cinema Passage Kinos.
Speck's Hof and Hansahaus
The oldest passage in Leipzig
Unique to Leipzig is its number of passages in the city center. Some have big entrances, while others may look from the street just like a gate left open. Some belong to historical buildings, some have appeared only a few years ago.
Mädlerpassage
Upscale shops and bars. The entrance to Auerbachs Keller is inside. Forms a bigger system with Königshauspassage and Messehofpassage.
Barthels Hof
Famous houses
Schiller House
Former home of the poet Friedrich Schiller.
Churches
Russische Gedächtniskirche
One of the many traces of the Napoleonic wars in and around Leipzig: a memorial church to the honours of Russian soldiers who died during the Napoleonic wars.
St. Thomas Church and Bach Museum
The church where Bach worked as a cantor from 1723 until his death in 1750. His remains are buried under a bronze epitaph near the altar.
Nikolaikirche
Leipzig's largest church. Starting point for the peaceful revolution on October 9, 1989, when 600 SED, who were sent to break up the protest joined the protesters. Every Monday at 5pm since 1982, the church holds peace prayers.
Old Town Hall
built in 1556 in the Renaissance style and remains one of Germany's largest. The position of the tower follows the ancient ideal of "golden mean". Located on the pretty main square of the city, it is a good orientation point. The Old City Hall was built 1556 by Hieronymus Lotter on basements of two Patrician houses. It is a beautiful Renaissance style building, 90 meters long with arcades 1906 - 09, six gables and a tower. In the 18th century the tower was enlarged and it received a Baroque spire. Until 1904 the Old City Hall was home of the city administration. Then it became home of the city museum. Most impressive is the huge Banquetting Hall with Renaissance interior open fireplaces. Many fine works of medieval religious art: altars, paintings, wood-carved sculptures etc. Most of them were saved from churches which were deconstructed in Leipzig's surrounding. Very impressive are the rooms with interior from old Patrician houses. Also interesting: the treasure chamber steep and narrow staircase!. This Renaissance building was erected in just nine months in 1556/57 under the direction of the architect Hieronymus Lotter. The municipal government moved into the New Town Hall in the year 1909. If you have a bit of luck you are allowed to visit the cellar of the building. Here you find the chamber of torture and the jail. Leipzig's Renaissance City hall contains a museum of city history which possesses the original of the only confirmed painting of Bach produced in his lifetime. It also contains interesting information regarding the public executions that previously took place in the market in front of the city hall. The most famous execution was that of Woyzeck later made famous by the Büchner play and the opera of Alban Berg. The interior of the Old City Hall built in 1556 is far more interesting than the outside view. Inside there's an interesting museum covering the history of Leipzig from the very beginnings in 12th century till our days. One of the most touristy places of the whole city.