New Luppe,
Pleiße
The Pleiße is a river of Saxony and Thuringia, Germany.
The Pleiße has its source southwest of Zwickau at Ebersbrunn, then flows through Werdau, Crimmitschau, Altenburg, and other towns and villages in Saxony and Thuringia, before flowing ...
, and
Parthe
The Parthe is a river in Saxony, Germany, right tributary of the White Elster. Its total length is . The Parthe originates in northern Saxony, between Colditz and Bad Lausick. It flows northwest through Parthenstein, Naunhof, Borsdorf and Tau ...
) in the city have largely artificial river beds and are supplemented by some channels. These waterways are suitable only for small leisure boat traffic.
Through the renovation and reconstruction of existing
mill race
A mill race, millrace or millrun, mill lade (Scotland) or mill leat (Southwest England) is the current of water that turns a water wheel, or the channel (sluice) conducting water to or from a water wheel. Compared with the broad waters of a mi ...
s and watercourses in the south of the city and flooded disused
open cast mines
Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow.
This form of mining ...
, the city's navigable water network is being expanded. A link between Karl Heine Canal and the disused Lindenauer port was opened in 2015. Still more work was scheduled to complete the Elster-Saale canal. Such a move would allow small boats to reach the
Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Rep ...
from Leipzig. The intended completion date has been postponed because of an unacceptable cost-benefit ratio.
File:Leipzig NGT12-LEI Waldplatz defekt.jpg, Tram of Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe
:''This article is a translation of the German article Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe. Images are those that appear in the German-language article. See also: Trams in Leipzig''
The Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe (LVB), literally translated into English ...
File:Leipzig Georg-Schumann-Strasse.jpg, Tramsystem at the Georg-Schumann-Straße
File:S-Bahnhof Leipzig Markt.jpg, Leipzig City Tunnel
The City Tunnel is a twin-bore railway tunnel for the city-centre S-Bahn in Leipzig. It links Leipzig Hauptbahnhof with the central Markt station, Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz station and Bayerischer Bahnhof.
Construction began in July 2003. The fir ...
, part of Leipzig's new S-Bahn
The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban-suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble c ...
network
File:S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland. Talent 2,027, Innenansicht Sitze.jpg, Inside the S-Bahn train
Quotations
''Mein Leipzig lob' ich mir! Es ist ein klein Paris und bildet seine Leute.'' (I praise my Leipzig! It is a small Paris and educates its people.) – Frosch, a university student in Goethe's ''
Faust, Part One''
''Ich komme nach Leipzig, an den Ort, wo man die ganze Welt im Kleinen sehen kann.'' (I'm coming to Leipzig, to the place where one can see the whole world in miniature.) –
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (, ; 22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the developm ...
''Extra Lipsiam vivere est miserrime vivere.'' (To live outside Leipzig is to live miserably.) –
Benedikt Carpzov the Younger
''Das angenehme Pleis-Athen, Behält den Ruhm vor allen, Auch allen zu gefallen, Denn es ist wunderschön.'' (The pleasurable Pleiss-Athens, earns its fame above all, appealing to every one, too, for it is mightily beauteous.) –
Johann Sigismund Scholze
Johann Sigismund Scholze alias Sperontes (20 March 1705 in Lobendau bei Liegnitz (today Lubiatów near Złotoryja) 28 September 1750 in Leipzig) was a Silesian music anthologist and poet.
Life
Little is known about the life of Scholze. He wa ...
Twin towns – sister cities

Leipzig is
twinned
Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to:
* In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so;
* Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning
* Twinning inst ...
with:
*
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, ...
, Ethiopia (2004)
*
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
, United Kingdom (1992)
*
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
, Italy (1962, renewed in 1997)
*
Brno, Czech Republic (1973, renewed in 1999)
*
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...
, Germany (1990)
*
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
, Germany (1987)
*
Herzliya
Herzliya ( ; he, הֶרְצְלִיָּה ; ar, هرتسليا, Hirtsiliyā) is an affluent city in the central coast of Israel, at the northern part of the Tel Aviv District, known for its robust start-up and entrepreneurial culture. In it ...
, Israel (2010)
*
Ho Chi Minh City
, population_density_km2 = 4,292
, population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2
, population_demonym = Saigonese
, blank_name = GRP (Nominal)
, blank_info = 2019
, blank1_name = – Total
, blank1_ ...
, Vietnam (2021)
*
Houston
Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...
, United States (1993)
*
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...
, Poland (1973, renewed in 1995)
*
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
, Ukraine (1961, renewed in 1992)
*
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...
, France (1981)
*
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and t ...
, China (1988)
*
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
, Greece (1984)
*
Travnik
Travnik is a town and a municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the administrative center of Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, west of Sarajevo. As of 20 ...
, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2003)
Notable people
Politicians
*
Nikolaus Krell (1551–1601), chancellor of the
elector of Saxony
The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony (German: or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356–1806. It was centered around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz.
In the Golden Bull of 1356, Emperor Charles ...
.
*
Friedrich Karl Biedermann
Friedrich Karl Biedermann (25 September 1812 in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony – 5 March 1901) was a German professor, politician, and publisher who greatly aided the Liberal movement in Germany during the process of German Unification.
Early life a ...
(1812–1901), a professor, politician, and publisher.
*
Louise Otto-Peters
Louise Otto-Peters (26 March 1819, Meissen – 13 March 1895, Leipzig) was a German suffragist and women's rights movement activist who wrote novels, poetry, essays, and libretti. She wrote for ''Der Wandelstern'' he Wandering Starand ''Sächsisc ...
(1819–1895), suffragette, founded the German Women's Association
*
August Bebel
Ferdinand August Bebel (22 February 1840 – 13 August 1913) was a German socialist politician, writer, and orator. He is best remembered as one of the founders of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany (SDAP) in 1869, which in 1875 me ...
(1840–1913), socialist politician, co-founder of Germany's SDP.
*
Karl Liebknecht
Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht (; 13 August 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a German socialist and anti-militarist. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) beginning in 1900, he was one of its deputies in the Reichstag fro ...
(1871–1919), socialist, co-founded the Communist Party of Germany
*
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 wa ...
(1884–1945), mayor, a lead conservative resistance against Hitler
*
Paul Frölich
Paul Frölich (7 August 1884 – 16 March 1953) was a German journalist and left-wing political activist and author, a founding member of the Communist Party of Germany and founder of the party's paper, ''Die Rote Fahne.'' A Communist Party deputy ...
(1884–1953), politician, KPD co-founder, biographer of Rosa Luxemburg
*Walter Ulbricht (1893–1973), Communist politician, GDR Chairman of the Council of State, 1960–1973
*Ruth Fischer (1895–1961), communist politician and journalist, co-founder of the CPA
*Annemarie Renger (1919–2008), politician, President of the Bundestag, 1972 to 1976
Philosophers and Theologians
*Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716), philosopher and scientist, mathematician, diplomat.
*Johann Friedrich Mayer (theologian), Johann Friedrich Mayer (1650–1712), Lutheran theologian
*Christian Thomasius (1655–1728), a jurist and philosopher.
*Wilhelm Abraham Teller (1734–1804), a Protestant theologian with a rational approach.
*Franz Delitzsch (1813–1890), a Lutheran theologian and Hebraist.
*Christian Daniel Beck (1757–1832), a philologist, historian, theologian and antiquarian.
*Georg Benedikt Winer (1789–1858), a Protestant theologian, known for linguistic studies of the New Testament.
*Christian Hermann Weisse (1801–1866), Protestant theologian and philosopher.
Writing & Arts

*Johann Albert Fabricius (1668–1736), a classical scholar and bibliographer.
*
Johann Sebastian 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 wo ...
(1685–1750), composer.
*Johann Gottfried Donati (1706–1782), composer
*Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788) a Classical period musician and composer.
*Johann Christian Bach (1735–1782), composer, youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach
*Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus (1772–1823), publisher, originated the Brockhaus encyclopedia.
*Johann Gottfried Jakob Hermann (1772–1848), a classical scholar and philologist.
*Karl Wilhelm Dindorf (1802–1883), a classical scholar.
*
Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847), composer, pianist, organist and conductor.
*
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...
(1810–1856), composer and music critic.
*Roderich Benedix (1811–1873), a dramatist and librettist.
*Theodor Bergk (1812–1881), a philologist, an authority on classical Greek poetry.
*
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
(1813–1883), composer, theatre director and conductor.
*Clara Schumann (1819–1896), pianist and composer.
*Carl Johann Lasch (1822–1888), painter
*Carl Reinecke (1824–1910), composer, conductor, and pianist.
*Max Beckmann (1884–1950), expressionist painter, professor at art academies and schools
*Wilhelm Backhaus (1884–1969), pianist
*Karl Alfred Pabst (1884–1971), painter, graphic artist and lithographer
*Hanns Eisler (1898–1962), composer of the national anthem of East Germany, the GDR
*Bruno Apitz (1900–1979), writer
*Wolfgang Weber (journalist), Wolfgang Weber (1902–1985), photojournalist
*Hans Mayer (1907–2001), literary scholar
*Kurt Masur (1927–2015), conductor of the
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Gewandhausorchester; also previously known in German as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) is a German symphony orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. The orchestra is named after the concert hall in which it is bas ...
*Herbert Blomstedt (born 1927), conductor of the
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Gewandhausorchester; also previously known in German as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) is a German symphony orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. The orchestra is named after the concert hall in which it is bas ...
*Werner Tübke (1929–2004), painter
*Hans-Joachim Schulze (born 1934), Bach scholar
*Riccardo Chailly (born 1953), conductor of the
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Gewandhausorchester; also previously known in German as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) is a German symphony orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. The orchestra is named after the concert hall in which it is bas ...
*
Neo Rauch
Neo Rauch (born 18 April 1960, in Leipzig, East Germany; ) is a German artist whose paintings mine the intersection of his personal history with the politics of industrial alienation. His work reflects the influence of socialist realism, and owe ...
(born 1960), painter
*
Till Lindemann
Till Lindemann (; born 4 January 1963) is a German singer, songwriter and poet. He is best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein and solo project Lindemann. Rammstein has sold over 25 million records wo ...
(born 1963), vocalist
*Simone Thomalla (born 1965), actress
*Matthias Weischer (born 1973), painter
*Oskar Lenz (1848–1925), explorer and travel writer
*Hans Meyer (geologist), Hans Meyer (1858–1929), geographer, Africanist and mountaineer
*Martin Broszat (1926–1989), historian, head of Institut für Zeitgeschichte in Munich
*Ruth Pfau (1929–2017), nun, physician and writer
*Christian Gottfried Körner (1756–1831), jurist and writer
*Sebastian Krumbiegel (1966-), singer and musician
*Tobias Künzel (1964-), singer and musician
Science & Business

*Michael Ettmüller (1644–1683), a physician.
*Augustus Quirinus Rivinus (1652–1723), physician and botanist
*Carl Gustav Carus (1789–1869), doctor, painter and natural philosopher.
*Wilhelm Hofmeister (1824–1877), a biologist and botanist.
*Paul Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1841–1880), chemist
*Karl Wittgenstein (1847–1913), entrepreneur
*Sibylle Kemmler-Sack (1934-1999), chemist
War figures
*Elfriede Rinkel (1922–2018), warden of a concentration camp during the Nazi dictatorship
*Karl Eberhard Schöngarth (1903–1946), SS officer and war criminal, executed in Hamelin
*Wilhelm Souchon (1864–1946), admiral in World War I
Sport
*Marvin Kirchhöfer (born 1994), racing driver
*René Müller (born 1959), footballer
*Kristin Otto (born 1966), swimmer, six-time Olympic gold medalist, sports journalist
*Rita Wilden (born 1947), sprinter
See also
*Battle of Breitenfeld (1642)
*Hugo Schneider AG
*Leipzig Human Rights Award
*Leipzig Jewish community
*Leipzig University Library
*List of mayors of Leipzig
*Ubiquity Theatre Company – English speaking theatre projects in Leipzig
References
Further reading
''Leipzig: One Thousand Years of German History. Bach, Luther, Faust: The City of Books and Music''. By Sebastian Ringel. Berlinica, 2015
External links
The city's official website*
Leipzig as virtual city 408 Points of Interest – EnglishThe Leipzig Glocal English language webzine and blog publishing regularly
Ubiquity Theatre Company – English language theatre projects in Leipzig
*
Leipzig Zeitgeist', an English magazine about Leipzig
This is Leipzig an English web site for Leipzig
LostInLeipzig Get lost in Germany's best city
Events in Leipzig��Music festivals in Leipzig
*
{{Authority control
Leipzig,
Cities in Saxony