Leipzig-Mitte is one of 10 boroughs (''

Stadtbezirk A ''Stadtbezirk'' (also called ''Ortsbezirk'' in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate) is an administrative division in Germany, which is part of a larger city. It is translated as "borough". In Germany, ''Stadtbezirke'' usually only exist in a metropo ...

e'') of Leipzig, located in the center of the city. It includes numerous architectural monuments. Most of them are located in the subdivision "Zentrum", which is sited inside the Inner City Ring Road: * the

Opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

, * the Europahaus, * the

Gewandhaus Gewandhaus is a concert hall in Leipzig, the home of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Today's hall is the third to bear this name; like the second, it is noted for its fine acoustics. History The first Gewandhaus (''Altes Gewandhaus'') The fi ...

, * the City-Hochhaus at the

Augustusplatz The Augustusplatz is a square located at the east end of the city centre of Leipzig, borough Leipzig-Mitte. It is the city's largest square and one of the largest (and, prior to almost all its buildings being destroyed in bombing in the Second Wor ...

, * the Wintergartenhochhaus, * the St. Thomas Church, * the St. Nicholas Church, * the New Town Hall, * the

Old Town Hall Old or OLD may refer to: Places * Old, Baranya, Hungary * Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, ...

at the marketplace, * the

Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

. In the southwest of the borough, there is located a part of the Clara-Zetkin-Park and the Federal Administrative Court. In the northern part of the borough, there are

Leipzig Zoo Leipzig Zoological Garden, or Leipzig Zoo (german: link=no, Zoologischer Garten Leipzig) is a zoo in Leipzig`s district Mitte, Germany. It was first opened on June 9, 1878. It was taken over by the city of Leipzig in 1920 after World War I and no ...

and Leipzig Central Station. In the south-east of the borough, there are the Bavarian train station, the ''Russian Memorial Church'' and the Alte Messe near the

Monument to the Battle of the Nations The Monument to the Battle of the Nations (german: Völkerschlachtdenkmal, sometimes shortened to ''Völki'' or ''Schlachti'') is a monument in Leipzig, Germany, to the 1813 Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations. Paid for mo ...

in the neighboring borough of ''Probstheida''. The exit ''Leipzig-Mitte'' of the

Bundesautobahn 14 is an autobahn in eastern Germany. The route comprises two disconnected sections: * The old A 241. A North-South route in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern which runs from Wismar to Schwerin. * The original A 14. A West-East route which start ...

is situated about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) away in the north of Leipzig.

View

Panorama Leipzig Richtung Westen von Tower 2013

Subdivisions

In Leipzig, the subdivisions of the boroughs are called ''Ortsteil''. In the district Leipzig-Mitte, there are these 7 ''Ortsteile'': Leipzig Ortsteil 00 Zentrum.svg, 00 Zentrum Leipzig Ortsteil 01 Zentrum-Ost.svg, 01 Zentrum-Ost Leipzig Ortsteil 02 Zentrum-Südost.svg, 02 Zentrum-Südost Leipzig Ortsteil 03 Zentrum-Süd.svg, 03 Zentrum-Süd Leipzig Ortsteil 04 Zentrum-West.svg, 04 Zentrum-West Leipzig Ortsteil 05 Zentrum-Nordwest.svg, 05 Zentrum-Nordwest Leipzig Ortsteil 06 Zentrum-Nord.svg, 06 Zentrum-Nord The subdivision of ''Zentrum-Nordwest'' correlates with the neighbourhood Waldstraßenviertel.

Population

On 30 June 2022, the borough Leipzig-Mitte had a population of 69,214.

History and urban development

The development of today's Leipzig began in the area of today's Mitte borough. In the Brühl area, there was in the 7th/8th century a slavic settlement, while the urban nucleus was in the area of the German castle ''(urbs libzi)''. It was in the area of today's Matthäikirchhof. Not far from there, the long-distance trade routes

Via regia The Via Regia (Royal Highway) is a European Cultural Route following the route of the historic road of the Middle Ages. There were many such ''viae regiae'' associated with the king in the medieval Holy Roman Empire. History Origins The ...

and

Via imperii Via Imperii (Imperial Road) was one of the most important of a class of roads known collectively as imperial roads (''german: Reichsstraßen'') of the Holy Roman Empire. This old trade route ran in a south–north direction from Venice on the Ad ...

crossed in the Middle Ages, with the latter still being present in today's street name ''Reichsstraße''. In the 13th century, the city of Leipzig extended only to the north beyond today's subdivision ''Zentrum'' and was limited to 42 hectares (104 acres) by the mighty city walls. Today's Mitte borough, on the other hand, also includes the

suburbs A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

, which essentially only developed after the gradual removal of the walls and ditches after the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

. Previously, these were due to war events (

Schmalkaldic War The Schmalkaldic War (german: link=no, Schmalkaldischer Krieg) was the short period of violence from 1546 until 1547 between the forces of Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire (simultaneously King Charles I of Spain), commanded by the Duk ...

and

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

) almost completely destroyed twice. Until the 1830s, only small areas outside of today`s ''Zentrum'' were developed. These were limited to the trade routes accompanying the road, which were referred to as ''Steinweg'' (stone track). The city limits were pushed outwards and new gatehouses were built (within the Mitte borough). Karli 44

The area later called ''Alt-Leipzig'' (Old Leipzig) corresponds roughly, but not exactly, with today's Mitte borough. An important prerequisite for the development of its northwestern, western and southwestern areas were the plans of the

hydraulic engineers Hydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive use of gravity as the motive force to cause the mov ...

Kohl and Georgi in the years 1852 to 1854 and the subsequent redesign of Leipzig's

waterbodies A body of water or waterbody (often spelled water body) is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another planet. The term most often refers to oceans, seas, and lakes, but it includes smaller pools of water such as p ...

. In the course of the 19th century, the extensive public gardens that surrounded the inner city on all sides were gradually subdivided and built on. This led to a strong structural expansion of the suburbs, whereby Leipzig exceeded the 100,000-inhabitant mark in 1870 and became a big city. Due to incorporations, the urban area was soon no longer limited to ''Alt-Leipzig''. In the census of 1895, a distinction was made between ''Alt-Leipzig'' with 183,000 people and ''Neu-Leipzig'' (New Leipzig) with 207,000 people. The population density was three times as high as it is today in the borough of Mitte, whose developed structure around 1900 was roughly as it is today. However, this does not change the fact that, as Sebastian Ringel proves,Sebastian Ringel: ''Wie Leipzigs Innenstadt verschwunden ist. 150 verlorene Bauten aus 150 Jahren.'' edition überland, Leipzig 2019, ISBN 978-3-948049-00-3, and Sebastian Ringel: ''Vom Wandel der Leipziger Vorstädte. 300 verlorene Bauten aus 160 Jahren.'' edition überland, Leipzig 2022, ISBN 978-3-948049-07-2, in German hardly one stone has been left unturned and many buildings have been replaced by new ones over the course of time. Starting with the construction of the main train station, through the

bombing of Leipzig in World War II During World War II, Leipzig was repeatedly attacked by British as well as American air raids. The most severe attack was launched by the Royal Air Force in the early hours of 4 December 1943 and claimed more than 1,800 lives. Large parts of t ...

(degree of destruction in the Mitte borough between 34 and 52%) and the changing reconstruction in the GDR, entire squares and streets disappeared. The increasing number of vehicles per capita in the 20th century and the expansion of roads also led to major changes in the cityscape. Towards the end of the 20th century, the concept of a city center with few cars prevailed, while the inner city ring road has the highest traffic occupancy in Leipzig after the

motorways A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

. With the S-Bahn city tunnel opened in 2013, the Mitte borough has received a total of 4 underground train stations. In 1989, the Mitte district made its place in world history with the Leipzig Monday demonstrations, which accelerated the end of the GDR and the

Eastern bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

References

{{reflist Geography of Leipzig Neighbourhoods in Germany

View

Subdivisions

Population

History and urban development

See also

Churches

Buildings

Lost buildings

Underground railway stations

Streets and Squares

Education and Science

Museums

Cemeteries

Other Attractions

References