Leipzig

Leipzig is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the eighth-largest city in Germany and is part of the Central German Metropolitan Region. Leipzig is located about southwest of Berlin, in the southernmost part of the North German Plain, at the confluence of the White Elster and its tributaries Pleiße and Parthe.
Leipzig has been a trade city since at least the time of the Holy Roman Empire. Via Regia and the Via Imperii, two important medieval trade routes, intersected here, marking the city's economic importance. The Leipzig Trade Fair dates back to 1190. Between 1764 and 1945, the city was a centre of publishing. After the Second World War, Leipzig remained a major urban centre in East Germany. But overall, because of isolation behind the Iron Curtain, its cultural and economic importance declined. Events in Leipzig in 1989 played a significant role in precipitating the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe, mainly through demonstrations starting from St. Nicholas Church. Since the early 2000s, Leipzig has experienced substantial transformation, marked by urban and economic revitalisation as well as the modernisation of its transport infrastructure.
Leipzig is home to one of the oldest universities in Europe. It is the main seat of the German National Library, the seat of the German Music Archive, as well as of the German Federal Administrative Court. Leipzig Zoo is one of the most modern zoos in Europe and as of 2018 ranks first in Germany and second in Europe. Leipzig's late-19th-century Gründerzeit architecture consists of around 12,500 buildings. The city's central railway terminus Leipzig Hauptbahnhof is Europe's largest railway station measured by floor area. Since Leipzig City Tunnel came into operation in 2013, it has formed the centrepiece of the S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland public transit system, Germany's largest S-Bahn network.
Leipzig has long been a major centre for music, including classical and modern dark wave. The Thomanerchor, a boys' choir, was founded in 1212. The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, established in 1743, is one of the oldest symphony orchestras in the world. Several well-known composers lived and worked in Leipzig, including Johann Sebastian Bach, Felix Mendelssohn, and Richard Wagner, born in 1813. The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" was founded in 1843. The Oper Leipzig, one of the most prominent opera houses in Germany, was founded in 1693. During a stay in Gohlis, which is now part of the city, Friedrich Schiller wrote his poem "Ode to Joy".

Names

A once common English spelling of the city's name was Leipsic, among many variants. The Latin name Lipsia was also used in many languages and in the academic publications of the city's university.

Etymology

The name Leipzig is commonly held to derive from lipa, the common Slavic designation for linden trees, making the city's name etymologically related to Lipetsk, Russia. Based on medieval attestations like Lipzk, the original Slavic name of the city has been reconstructed as *Lipьsko, which is also reflected in similar forms in neighbouring modern Slavic languages. This has, however, been questioned by more recent onomastic research based on the very oldest forms like Libzi.
The archaic Romanian name of Leipzig, Lipsca, is also derived from a Slavic form. Lipscani, a historical district in the center of Bucharest, is named after it.

Epithets

Due to the etymology mentioned above, Lindenstadt or Stadt der Linden are common poetic epithets for the city.
Another, somewhat old-fashioned epithet is Pleiß-Athen, hinting at Leipzig's long academic and literary tradition, as the seat of one of the oldest German universities and a centre of the book trade.
It is also referred to as "Little Paris" after a line from Goethe's Faust I, which is partly set in the famous Leipzig restaurant Auerbachs Keller.
In 1937 the Nazi government awarded the city the epithet Reichsmessestadt Leipzig.
In 1989 Leipzig was dubbed a Hero City, a title that the Soviet Union awarded to some of its cities for their key role in World War II. In Leipzig's case, though, this was an informal allusion to its role in the fall of the East German regime.
More recently, the city has sometimes been nicknamed Hypezig, the "Boomtown of eastern Germany", or "The better Berlin" and is celebrated by the media as a hip urban centre for its vibrant lifestyle and creative scene with many startups.

Geography

Location

Leipzig is located in the Leipzig Bay, the southernmost part of the North German Plain, which is the part of the North European Plain in Germany. The city sits on the White Elster, a river that rises in the Czech Republic and flows into the Saale south of Halle. The Pleiße and the Parthe join the White Elster in Leipzig, and the large inland delta-like landscape the three rivers form is called Leipziger Gewässerknoten. The site is characterized by swampy areas such as the Leipzig Riparian Forest, though there are also some limestone areas to the north of the city. The landscape is mostly flat, though there is also some evidence of moraine and drumlins.
Although there are some forest parks within the city limits, the area surrounding Leipzig is relatively unforested. During the 20th century, there were several open-pit mines in the region, many of which have been converted to lakes.
Leipzig is also situated at the intersection of the ancient roads known as the Via Regia, which traversed Germany in an east–west direction, and the Via Imperii, a north–south road.
Leipzig was a walled city in the Middle Ages and the current "ring" road around the historic centre of the city follows the line of the old city walls.

Subdivision

Since 1992 Leipzig has been divided administratively into ten Stadtbezirke, which in turn contain a total of 63 Ortsteile. Some of these correspond to outlying villages which have been annexed by Leipzig.

Stadtbezirk	Pop.	Area km²	Pop. per km²	Ortsteile
Mitte	65,912	13.96		Zentrum, Zentrum-Ost, Zentrum-Südost, Zentrum-Süd, Zentrum-West, Zentrum-Nordwest, Zentrum-Nord
Nordost	48,227	26.31		Schönefeld-Abtnaundorf, Schönefeld-Ost, Mockau-Süd, Mockau-Nord, Thekla, Plaußig-Portitz
Ost	85,519	40.73		Neustadt-Neuschönefeld, Volkmarsdorf, Anger-Crottendorf, Sellerhausen-Stünz, Paunsdorf, Heiterblick, Engelsdorf/Sommerfeld, Althen, Baalsdorf, Kleinpösna/Hirschfeld, Mölkau
Südost	62,506	34.72		Reudnitz-Thonberg, Stötteritz, Probstheida, Meusdorf, Holzhausen, Liebertwolkwitz
Süd	67,079	16.95		Südvorstadt, Connewitz, Marienbrunn, Lößnig, Dölitz-Dösen
Südwest	55,742	46.56		Schleußig, Plagwitz, Kleinzschocher, Großzschocher, Knautkleeberg-Knauthain, Hartmannsdorf-Knautnaundorf
West	54,190	14.69		Schönau, Grünau-Ost, Grünau-Mitte, Grünau-Siedlung, Lausen-Grünau, Grünau-Nord, Miltitz
Alt-West	59,643	26.21		Lindenau, Altlindenau, Neulindenau, Leutzsch, Böhlitz-Ehrenberg, Burghausen, Rückmarsdorf
Nordwest	34,710	39.07		Möckern, Wahren, Lindenthal, Breitenfeld, Lützschena, Stahmeln
Nord	71,878	38.61		Gohlis-Süd, Gohlis-Mitte, Gohlis-Nord, Eutritzsch, Seehausen, Göbschelwitz, Hohenheida, Gottscheina, Wiederitzsch

Neighbouring communities

Climate

Like many cities in Eastern Germany, Leipzig has an oceanic climate, with significant continental influences due to its inland location. Winters are cold, with an average temperature of around. Summers are generally warm, averaging at with daytime temperatures of. Precipitation in winter is about half that of the summer. The amount of sunshine differs significantly between winter and summer, with an average of around 51 hours of sunshine in December compared with 229 hours of sunshine in July.

History

Origins

Leipzig was first documented in 1015 in the chronicles of Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg as urbs Libzi and endowed with city and market privileges in 1165 by Otto the Rich. Leipzig Trade Fair, started in the Middle Ages, has become an event of international importance and is the oldest surviving trade fair in the world. This encouraged the growth of the Leipzig merchant bourgeoisie.
There are records of commercial fishing operations on the river Pleiße that, most likely, refer to Leipzig dating back to 1305, when the Margrave Dietrich the Younger granted the fishing rights to the church and convent of St Thomas.
There were a number of monasteries in and around the city, including a Franciscan monastery after which the Barfußgäßchen is named and a monastery of Irish monks near the present day Ranstädter Steinweg.
The University of Leipzig was founded in 1409 and Leipzig developed into an important centre of German law and of the publishing industry in Germany, resulting, in the 19th and 20th centuries, with the Reichsgericht and the German National Library being located here.
During the Thirty Years' War, two battles took place in Breitenfeld, Leipzig, about outside Leipzig city walls. The first Battle of Breitenfeld took place in 1631 and the second in 1642. Both battles resulted in victories for the Swedish-led side.
On 24 December 1701, when Franz Conrad Romanus was mayor, an oil-fueled street lighting system was introduced. The city employed light guards who had to follow a specific schedule to ensure the punctual lighting of the 700 lanterns.