Liebertwolkwitz is an outlying settlement and ''
Ortsteil
A village is a clustered human settlement or Residential community, community, larger than a hamlet (place), hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population t ...
'' of
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
on the city's south side. It contains the , the highest elevation in the Leipzig area. It was established in or before 1040.
Before the local government boundary reform in 1999, it was an administratively independent municipality.
History
Origins
The first surviving record of the place, then identified as "Niwolkesthorp", dates from 1040. It is likely to have originated in the 7th or 8th century, however, as a
Slavic settlement.
Church
Fire destroyed the Romanesque church in 1575. It was replaced with a rectangular structure which featured a stout tower at its west end. In 1702 this tower was rebuilt in the
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
style, which left it taller and more ornate.
The Battle of the Nations
Monarchenhügel (''Monarchs' Hill), part of the higher ground within the territory of Liebertwolkwitz, is of particular historical significance. It was from here, in October 1813 as fighting reached its climax, that the
Austrian Emperor
The Emperor of Austria (german: Kaiser von Österreich) was the ruler of the Austrian Empire and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A hereditary imperial title and office proclaimed in 1804 by Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, a member of the Hou ...
, the
Russian Czar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...
and the
Prussian King
The monarchs of Prussia were members of the House of Hohenzollern who were the hereditary rulers of the former German state of Prussia from its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. The Duchy had evolved out of the Teutonic Order, a Roman C ...
oversaw their armies against
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
in the four-day
Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig (french: Bataille de Leipsick; german: Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig, ); sv, Slaget vid Leipzig), also known as the Battle of the Nations (french: Bataille des Nations; russian: Битва народов, translit=Bitva ...
. Casualties were high on both sides, but the coalition of the three emperors won, turning the tide of the
Great War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
(as it was known to the English at the time) decisively against the French. One victim of the battle was a church organ which had been built back in 1725 by
Zacharias Hildebrandt
Zacharias Hildebrandt (1688, Münsterberg, Silesia – 11 October 1757, Dresden, Saxony) was a German organ builder. In 1714 his father Heinrich Hildebrandt, a cartwright master, apprenticed him to the famous organbuilder Gottfried Silberman ...
, a contemporary and friend of
Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
.
Two days before the climax, the so-called
"Cavalry Clash of Liebertwolkwitz" (''"Gefecht bei Liebertwolkwitz"'') in open countryside to the south of the town took place. The Prussian
Dragoon Lieutenant Guido von der Lippe attacked the French
Marshal Murat who was poorly protected, but was nevertheless able to get away from von Lippe who was diverted by a French equerry who himself was killed while Murat fled. The skirmish was immortalised much later in a painting by
Richard Knötel
Richard Knötel (January 12, 1857 – April 26, 1914) was a German artist and pioneer of the study of military uniform.
Life
Knötel was born in Glogau in 1857. His father, August Knötel, was an art teacher and gave him lessons in drawing and ...
.
There is also a memorial, erected in 1852, on the , the hilltop which was Napoleon's command post in the early part of the battle and later, briefly, of the three coalition emperors.
Modern developments
Large-scale industrial development came to Liebertwolkwitz around 1880, with the production processes making use of the
Clay minerals
Clay minerals are hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates (e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4), sometimes with variable amounts of iron, magnesium, alkali metals, alkaline earths, and other cations found on or near some planetary surfaces.
Clay mineral ...
mined locally. The industry-sector remains important to the local economy.
In 1908 the municipal bathhouse was built: today it houses a fitness club.
The name
The fifteen character four syllable name of Liebertwolkwitz is often shortened locally to "Wolks": residents may refer to themselves as "Wolkser".
[For examples see (in German]
„1. Wolkser Aulaabend – Swing im 'Presse Café'“
and other articles on the official website of "Wolks" (in German).
Town twinning
Since 1996 Liebertwolkwitz has been
twinned with
Les Epesses
Les Epesses () is a Communes of France, commune in the Vendée Departments of France, department in the Pays de la Loire Regions of France, region in western France.
It is best known for the Puy du Fou historical theme park.
Geography
The muni ...
, a small town in
rural western France.
Celebrities
* At the end of the seventeenth century the manor of Liebertwolkwitz was acquired by the Poet-Writer
Heinrich Anselm von Ziegler und Kliphausen, who died here in 1697.
* The footballer
René Adler
René Adler (born 15 January 1985) is a retired German footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
Early life
Adler is the son of former East German international Jens Adler. His cousin is Israeli-American professional lacrosse player Max Adler.
...
was born in Liebertwolkwitz in 1985.
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Geography of Leipzig
Former municipalities in Saxony