Museum of City History Leipzig

About

The Leipzig City History Museum, a municipal museum in Leipzig, Germany, collects, documents, and presents in its exhibitions objects, information, and contexts of Leipzig's history from its founding as a city in the early Middle Ages to the present day. With approximately 550,000 visitors annually (as of the end of 2024), the Leipzig City History Museum is one of Leipzig's most visited attractions. The ring of decentralized themed museums is located around the central locations of the Old Town Hall and Haus Böttchergäßchen (known as the New Building until 2014). These include the Monument to the Battle of the Nations (Völkerschlachtdenkmal) and FORUM 1813, the Schillerhaus in Leipzig-Gohlis, the Museum Zum Arabischen Coffee Baum, the Alte Handelsbörse, the Capa House and the Sports Museum (currently without a permanent exhibition).

( 51°20′31″N 12°22′35″E  /  51.3418351°N 12.37638°E  / 51.3418351; 12.37638  ( Old Town Hall (Leipzig) ) )

The main location of the museum, in addition to the new building in Böttchergäßchen, is the Old Town Hall on the market square, with its central permanent exhibition on Leipzig's city history.

The main floor of the Old Town Hall houses a permanent exhibition on the history of Leipzig, from its founding as a city to the Battle of the Nations in 1813. The focal point of this area is the Renaissance ballroom, which is also used for receptions and cultural events. It features a 25 m 2 (269.1 sq ft) city model, depicting Leipzig in 1823 in contemporary detail. In addition to two picture galleries (portraits of princes and city judges), Leipzig's jurisprudence is also on display, including a handwritten edition of the Sachsenspiegel from 1461 and numerous objects related to Johann Christian Woyzeck. Starting from the ballroom, visitors enter chronologically and thematically structured sections (early history and city development, Middle Ages, church and university, Reformation, trade fair, Baroque, architecture and gardens, everyday city life, cultural flourishing, war and peace, history of the Old Town Hall, crafts, music). The southern part of the main floor also houses the council chamber and the treasury with objects from the Leipzig Kramer treasure.

On the upper floor, with an area of approximately 1,500 m 2 (16,145.9 sq ft), the second part of the permanent exhibition, entitled "Modern Times: Leipzig from Industrialization to the Present", opened on 11 December 2011. In addition to a detailed chronological presentation of the city's history from 1815 onward, Leipzig's significance in the areas of books, music, trade fairs, and sports is dealt with separately in the so-called "Themes of a City". In the attic of the Old Town Hall, there is a reenactment of Leipzig's destruction in World War II.

The rear of the building provides access to the former dungeons of the Old Town Hall, located in the basement.

The city model of Leipzig in the festival hall

Pulpit of the destroyed St. John's Church (Johanniskirche)

The new building in Böttchergäßchen, opened in 2004, was designed by the architectural firms Coersmeier and Ilg, Friebe, Nauber. In addition to a foyer, studio, and visitor services, it contains a special exhibition area, a children's museum, a library, photo library, workshops, and the museum's documentation and administration. The central depot, spread over three floors (1,900 m 2 (20,451.4 sq ft)), forms the core of the building. The five-story building's natural stone façade, made of red Rochlitz porphyry, is opened up at the top by a recesssed glass storey. The official name "Neubau" (New Building) was replaced by the name "House Böttchergäßchen" at the end of 2014.

On 11 November 2024, the installation "Drops on Stars" by Leipzig artist Maix Mayer was inaugurated in the winding backyard of the building, in the so-called Museums-Karree. It consists of two street lamps (called "drop lamps"), which were manufactured during the GDR era by VEB Leuchtenbau Leipzig, and a star-shaped stainless steel sculpture below them in a red tartan circle.

The first children's and youth museum, "Lipsikus", opened with an exhibition on the mezzanine floor of the Böttchergäßchen building in November 2004. Until 2013, it formed the center of the museum's educational offerings in the new building of the City History Museum. In addition to permanent areas (e.g., presentations of the museum's individual facilities, a self-assembled three-dimensional city model, a freely accessible children's ( puppet ) theater, an automaton with stereoscopic views of old Leipzig, and presentations of private children's collections), small temporary exhibitions and events were regularly presented. After a temporary closure, the children's museum reopened at the end of 2015 with a new focus. Since then, an interactive, hands-on exhibition entitled "Children Make Trade Fairs" has presented Leipzig as a trade fair and trade city.

The special academic library (reference collection) comprises approximately 140,000 volumes focusing on urban and regional history. In addition to the first documented book printed in Leipzig ( Giovanni Nanni 's Glosa Apocalipsim from 1481), the holdings include other incunables and early prints, municipal ordinances from the late 15th century onward, rare writings from the Reformation period, and numerous regionally significant historical chronicles. Special collections, which can be viewed in the library, include:

- History of the German and international workers' movement (Karl Wiegel Collection from the library of the former Georgi Dimitrov Museum in Leipzig).

- various unique copies of Johann Jacob Vogel's extensive city chronicle, Leipzigisches Geschicht-Buch Oder Annales (1714 and 1756), bound with numerous copperplate engravings.

- the historical Chamber Library of the Leipzig Chamber of Commerce and Industry (on permanent loan).

- historical and rare children's and young adult books since the 18th century (Heiner Vogel Collection).

The photo library, with its approximately 105,000 objects, represents one of the largest collection fields of the City History Museum. These include:

- Legacy of Bertha Wehnert-Beckmann (83 daguerreotypes, 3,500 glass negatives, paper prints).

- Hermann Walter legacy (4,000 glass negatives and vintage prints on Leipzig's urban and architectural history from 1870 to 1909).

- Over 500 photographic plates and prints by Hermann Vogel (Leipzig monuments and cityscapes around 1900).