Leipzig New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus) is the seat of the

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 ...

city administration since 1905. It stands in Leipzig's district

Mitte Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding. It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuzb ...

within the Leipzig's "ring road" on the southwest corner opposite the newly built Propsteikirche. The main tower is, at 114.8 meters or 377 feet, the tallest city hall tower in Germany - "trumping

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

's previous record by a whole eight feet".

History

At the end of the nineteenth century, 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, ...

located at the marketplace finally proved too small for the booming city. In 1895 the city of Leipzig was granted the site of the Pleissenburg by the

Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony (german: Königreich Sachsen), lasting from 1806 to 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. The kingdom was formed from the Electorate of Saxon ...

to build a new town hall. A competition was held for architectural designs with the specification that the Rapunzel tower silhouette of the Pleißenburg be retained. In 1897 the architect and city building director of Leipzig

Hugo Licht Hugo Georg Licht (21 February 1841 in Nieder-Zedlitz (today Siedlnica, Poland) – 28 February 1923 in Leipzig, Germany) was a German architect. Life Licht was the son of the landholder Georg Hugo Licht. In the years 1862 and 1863 he was mason ...

was awarded the job of designing it. The motto of his design was: "''Arx nova surgit'' - a new castle emerges." The sculptor

Georg Wrba Georg Wrba (3 January 1872 – 9 January 1939) was a German sculptor and graphic artist. He created some 3,000–4,000 works, including as a collaborator of the Zwinger (Dresden), Zwinger workshop. Life Wrba was born in Munich in 1872, the so ...

was commissioned with the sculptural design of the building. The foundation stone of the New Town Hall was laid on 19 October 1899. The hall is notable as the location of numerous

mass suicides Mass suicide is a form of suicide, occurring when a group of people simultaneously kill themselves. Overview Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious settings. In war, defeated groups may resort to mass suicide rather than being captured. S ...

during the final days of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

Architecture

The building complex, designed in the style of

historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely u ...

"... it primarily based on Renaissance forms but exhibits Classic, Gothic and Baroque elements, particularly in its architectural decoration", Ringel (2015), ibid. and made of light-grey,

Main Main may refer to: Geography * Main River (disambiguation) **Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries ...

-Franconian

shelly limestone Shelly limestone is a highly fossiliferous limestone, composed of a number of fossilized organisms such as brachiopods, bryozoans, crinoids, sponges, corals and mollusks. It varies in color, texture and hardness. Coquina is a poorly indurated for ...

, forms an irregular

pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simpl ...

over an area of more than 10,000 m² (107,600 sq.ft.). The tower stands on the base of the old Pleissenburg tower. From the fourth floor, 250 steps lead to the upper tower passage with the possibility of viewing. On the southwest facade are the five statues ''"Crafts", "Justice", "Book Art", "Science"'' and ''"Music"'' by the artists Arthur Trebst, Johannes Hartmann,

Adolf Lehnert Adolf Lehnert (20 July 1862 – 6 January 1948) was a Leipzig sculptor and medal designer. Life Family Franz Robert Adolf Lehnert was born in Leipzig, the second of his parents' twelve recorded children. His father, also called Adolf Leh ...

, Josef Mágr and Hans Zeissig. The clock at the town hall, which is illuminated blue at night, contains the Latin inscription '' MORS CERTA, HORA INCERTA'' (Death is certain, its hour uncertain), in the vernacular "The clock is sure to be wrong". The female gable figure above the clock symbolizes ''Truth''. The west gable, on the other hand, has as its subject the personification ''"The

official secret Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to know, ...

"'' by Johannes Hartmann.

The Goerdeler Memorial

At the southwestern tip of the New Town Hall, in the green belt of the so called ''Promenadenring'', there is a memorial to

Carl Friedrich Goerdeler Carl Friedrich Goerdeler (; 31 July 1884 – 2 February 1945) was a monarchist conservative German politician, executive, economist, civil servant and opponent of the Nazi regime. He opposed some anti-Jewish policies while he held office and was ...

, one of the leading forces in the bourgeois resistance against Nazism and Leipzig's Mayor (Oberbürgermeister) from 1930 until 1937. He was sentenced to death and executed. 55 years later, the memorial, conceptualized by the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

artists

Jenny Holzer Jenny Holzer (born July 29, 1950) is an American neo-conceptual artist, based in Hoosick, New York. The main focus of her work is the delivery of words and ideas in public spaces and includes large-scale installations, advertising billboards, ...

and Mike Glier, was unveiled on 8 September 1999. It consists of a five meter (16.4 ft.) deep bell shaft with a diameter of 2.75 meters (9 ft.). A bronze bell hangs in it. Quotations from letters, newspapers and writings by Carl Friedrich Goerdeler can be found in chronological order around the shaft.

Culture

The Israeli author Yosef Agnon (

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

, 1966) describes in the second chapter of his novel " In Mr. Lublin's Store", how the nameless first-person narrator, a young jewish man from Galicia, haunted in 1915 the authoritative new town hall for obtaining a residence permit in Leipzig. The town hall features as a backdrop in the

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

film ''

Torn Curtain ''Torn Curtain'' is a 1966 American Political thriller, political thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews. Written by Brian Moore (novelist), Brian Moore, the film is set in the Cold War. It is about ...

''.

Gallery

File:Leipzigsuicide.jpg, The Deputy Mayor of

and his wife and daughter, who committed suicide as American troops were entering the city on 20 April 1945. File:Neues Rathaus Leipzig nach1905.jpg, Southwest view, 1905. File:Fotothek df roe-neg 0002629 004 Trümmerbeseitigung vor dem Neuen Rathaus.jpg, New Town Hall after

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 ...

File:Leipzig Burgplatz Panorama.jpg, View over New Town Hall and Burgplatz File:Leipzig rathaus.jpg, Front view File:Neues Rathaus Leipzig Treppenaufgang.JPG, Interior: Staircases of the New City Hall File:Neues Rathaus Innenansicht EG Leipzig 2011.jpg, Entrance hall

References

Sources

The Leipzig New Town Hall at the official website of the City of Leipzig (in English)

External links

* {{Authority control City and town halls in Germany Buildings and structures in Leipzig Government buildings completed in 1905 1905 establishments in Germany