Leipzig - Bach's final resting place (10/17/03)
Last updated 12/1/03
We had a day-long stop in the eastern German town of Leipzig. I don't
know much historical stuff about Leipzig, and the only
reason I was aware of it, before our trip, was because it's either the
2nd or 3rd city you build in Civilization if you decide to play as the
Germans. After visiting, I know a little bit more, but not too much so
bear with me. Before the advent of WWII, and the subsequent division of
Germany, Leipzig gained fame due to the Church of St. Thomas, where
Johann Sebastian Bach served as Cantor for several years. The church
was actually built in 1212 (by Margrave Dietrich) and Bach worked there
from 1723 until his death in 1750.In honor of
their famous cantor, the church has a pretty statue outside and a
beautiful stain-glass window with a center portrait of Bach on the
inside. Oh yeah, and they've got his dead body buried in an altar-like
area within the actual church. Kinda creepy if you ask me. The church
on the whole is very beautiful, and due to the roof design (see picture
below), the acoustics of the place are pretty impressive -- we got to
hear an organ recital while visiting and it sounded good. It's kinda
interesting to note that due to the concentration of wealth in Leipzig
(resulting from trade), the church was continually adapted according to
the style of the day. The church actually underwent an entire
renovation when converted from Baroque to neo-Gothic style (shown in
the pictures) from 1884 to 1889.
In addition
to visiting the church and absorbing some of the "historic downtown"
(did I mention how EVERY city has one of these?) scene, we visited the
former Stasi (comm(Museum in der Runden Ecke) with plenty of exhibits
on how
the secret police tapped into the lives of the East German people. They
had machines for opening & re-sealing records, and tons of
documents (about 6 miles long when laid out) on over 100,000 citizens
including copies of the letters that these people wrote. Pretty scary
stuff, but don't worry, nothing like that happens in the US, right?
*cough* *cough* <sarcasm> Nice to know that Ashcroft and
Co. are only gathering info on "terrorists", otherwise we could have a
Stasi-like environment in the making. </sarcasm>
Pictures
Some images from the Central Globetrotter Hostel
Sample pictures from the town
St. Thomas Church
Some images from the Central Globetrotter Hostel
Sample pictures from the town
St. Thomas Church