Facts for Kids

People first wrote about Leipzig in the year 1015. The town got city and market rights in 1165, which meant it could hold regular markets. Thanks to its spot where two old roads crossed, the Leipzig Trade Fair began in the Middle Ages and grew into one of the world’s oldest trade fairs.

Leipzig became a learning center when Leipzig University started in 1409, and the city was known for law and books. Long ago monks and monasteries shaped parts of the town, and the area saw important events such as the 1519 debate at the Pleissenburg site. Would you like to visit a market that began hundreds of years ago?

Leipzig is the biggest city in the German state of Saxony. About 628,718 people lived there in 2023, so it is one of Germany’s largest cities. Leipzig sits about 150 km southwest of Berlin and is part of a busy group of cities called the Central German Metropolitan Region.

Three rivers meet in Leipzig: the White Elster, the Pleiße, and the Parthe. Because two important medieval roads crossed here, Leipzig became a center for trade long ago. The Leipzig Trade Fair began in 1190 and still matters today. The city also has an old university, a famous zoo, and Europe’s largest railway station by floor area.

The name Leipzig probably comes from the Slavic word lipa, which means linden trees. Long ago people from Slavic languages named places after the trees they saw, so Leipzig’s name likely means “place of linden trees.”

Scholars think the older Slavic name was something like *Lipьsko, and similar names appear in Polish, Sorbian, and Czech. Over the centuries the name changed into forms like Libzi and Lipsca in other languages. Even a street area in Bucharest, called Lipscani, keeps the same root. Can you picture a town named for a row of shady trees?

Leipzig lies in a flat area called the Leipzig Bay, part of the North German Plain. The city grows along the White Elster river, which begins in the Czech Republic. The smaller rivers Pleiße and Parthe join the White Elster in the city and form a water network called the Leipziger Gewässerknoten.

Around Leipzig you find forests, some swamps, and a bit of limestone. The city has big green spaces like the Leipziger Auwald forest, Rosental park near the zoo, Johannapark, and Clara-Zetkin-Park. Old open-pit mines nearby are being changed into lakes in the Neuseenland project, making new places for swimming and nature.

Johann Sebastian Bach worked in Leipzig for many years and led singing and music at St. Thomas Church. His music still fills the city today. Leipzig is also the birthplace or workplace of many famous musicians, like Felix Mendelssohn, Richard Wagner, Robert Schumann, and Gustav Mahler. The old conservatory started by Mendelssohn is now a big music university.

Each year Leipzig hosts many events you might enjoy: the Bachfest for Bach’s music, Dok Leipzig for films, Jazztage for jazz, and the long-running Christmas Market. There are fairs for books and cars too. Which festival would you visit?

Old Town Hall sits in the market square and looks like a building from long ago. It was built in the 1500s and now holds a museum about the city. Nearby you can see grand Baroque houses, neat Renaissance details, and rows of late 1800s apartment blocks in the Gründerzeit style that give parts of Leipzig a cozy, historic look.

The city also mixes old with modern. The New Town Hall (built 1905) is very tall, and the Monument to the Battle of the Nations is a huge stone memorial you can climb. Leipzig Hauptbahnhof is the world’s largest station by floor area and feels like a small city inside. Which building would you like to explore first?

Leipziger Allerlei is a famous local dish made from vegetables and sometimes small freshwater crayfish. Another treat is the Leipziger Lerche, a sweet pastry that remembers older city tastes; hunters once used songbirds in a similar dish, but bird hunting stopped in 1876. Leipzig is also known for Gose, a slightly sour beer that people have enjoyed there for centuries.

Many well-known people come from Leipzig or lived here. Musicians like Mendelssohn and Wagner, writers and thinkers studied here, and political leaders such as Louise Otto-Peters and August Bebel also worked in the city. Do you recognize any of these names?