Discover Leipzig: A Cultural Hub of Germany
In Leipzig, you’ll discover a new generation of artists and cultural provocateurs molding this city into one of Germany’s most dynamic and welcoming destinations.
The Vibrant Spinnerei
Outside the Spinnerei, all I saw were stolid brick walls. However, when I walked through the entrance and into the heart of this massive complex, which fills 25 acres in western Leipzig, I began to sense its story. Stylish young Germans bounced by on bikes, scarves fluttering in their wake. They popped into and out of a café in one building and a large art-supply store on the ground floor of another, stocking up on fuel for their creativity.
The Spinnerei has long been a place of imagining and making things destined for homes and bodies elsewhere. This was once central Europe’s largest cotton mill, where, from the late 19th century and into the early 20th, hundreds of thousands of spindles produced countless yards of thread. As industry faded with the fortunes of East Germany, the buildings emptied – until they were rediscovered by a new generation of entrepreneurs.
Castles of Germany
Manfred Mülhaupt was one of the first to recognize the Spinnerei’s potential. He arrived in the early 1990s, squatting with starving-artist friends in one of the Spinnerei’s many disused buildings. They rode bikes up and down its wide hallways, painted by day, then danced all night. “The first two, three, four years, we didn’t pay anything,” he said. “Nothing was happening, so you had enough time to do your work. If you had a party, everyone would come because Leipzig had no bars. No nothing.”
A Renaissance of Culture
Today, the Spinnerei once again thrums with creative life. It houses shops, a restaurant, world-class art galleries, and even an art-house cinema. Sunlight streams through the cast-iron casement windows, illuminating the work of the dozens of artists and designers who have ateliers here, including carpenters, sculptors, porcelain makers, and several painters of the famed New Leipzig School. You can stay in the Spinnerei; Mülhaupt has carved out a four-room guesthouse, the Meisterzimmer, from rooms where he and his friends once squatted. I delighted in the numerous original details he has retained – heavy doors, bathroom fixtures, and pieces of furniture salvaged from the old factory. The Spinnerei is now a vibrant textile mill that houses galleries and shops.
Leipzig’s Transformation
Like the Spinnerei, Leipzig has found new vigor. Twenty-five years ago, it, along with most of the former German Democratic Republic, was in economic shambles. Over the decade after the fall of the Soviet Union, it lost nearly half its population. Tens of thousands of buildings sat empty, including massive factories, gracious Art Nouveau villas, and late-19th-century apartment houses with Renaissance and Gothic-style flourishes.
However, Leipzig, the largest city in the eastern state of Saxony, has grown faster than any other in Germany, adding more than 100,000 residents since 2000. Its total population is now 570,000. Consequently, the influx of artists and the city’s affordability have led outsiders to proclaim Leipzig “the new Berlin.” Many locals I talked to found that assessment insulting, questioning why Berlin, which is just over an hour away by high-speed train, is the measure of a German city’s worth. Soon Leipzig had another, even worse nickname, popularized by mainstream media: “Hypezig,” signaling growing discomfort with and backlash against its recent appeal.
Community and Creativity
This represents both Leipzig’s opportunity and its risk. It became popular because it was so unpopular. The city has a reputation for being more welcoming than, say, Munich or Berlin, but it doesn’t necessarily share its secrets easily. “Leipzig is not really about buildings or institutions,” Mülhaupt explained. “It’s the people. It’s their ideas. It’s their willingness to try something out.”
To visit Leipzig now is to experience an urban work in progress, one that is less of a rise and more of a resurrection. In this city that fostered Bach, Mendelssohn, Goethe, and Nietzsche, the centuries-old spirit of experimentation and the enduring ethos of possibility seem stronger than ever. Leipzig’s driving force is hospitality – to new ideas, to new creativity, to new people. None of this is a departure from its rich history. Indeed, it’s on that venerable foundation that contemporary Leipzig is building its modern magic.
Historic Significance
Leipzig sits at a historic crossroads. In the Middle Ages, it rose to prominence as a trading hub at the intersection of the Via Regia, a major east-west transcontinental route, and the Via Imperii, a north-south thoroughfare.
“The main reason for Leipzig becoming what it is today is its history,” said photographer Jörg Dietrich, who makes panoramic photos of cityscapes. As we strolled the streets, he deciphered the histories knit into the surroundings for me. The picturesque, kayak-friendly canals? Part of an unfulfilled 19th-century plan to connect Leipzig’s landlocked factories with Hamburg’s seaport, 250 miles away. The necklace of lakes offering sailing and sandy beaches just a half-hour’s bike ride from Leipzig’s center? Open-pit coal mines, deliberately flooded over the past 20 years to transform the scars of the industrial past into recreational areas. The Fockeberg, a verdant 500-foot hill providing sweeping views? World War II rubble – remnants of the Reich, piled up and planted over to create a pastoral idyll.
Leipzig’s location also made it a nexus for the spread of new technologies and ideas. Its university, Germany’s second oldest, was founded in 1409; Goethe and Nietzsche were both alumni. The world’s first daily newspaper began publication here in 1650. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Leipzig became an industrial giant, hence the Spinnerei, as well as a rail hub; its central station is Europe’s largest terminal. “Without this history, we wouldn’t have these spaces,” Dietrich said.
Contemporary Art and Reflection
Another era’s loss presaged this one’s gain. Take the Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig, which, fittingly, puts stories of the past in conversation with the art and social concerns of the present day. Established after Germany’s reunification, the museum occupies a lush city-center estate that pairs a villa built for a scientist in 1892 with a strikingly modern annex added in 2004. Accessibility was drafted into the architecture; the single-level annex has no stairs, just a gently sloped ramp, and giant windows on the side face the busy Karl-Tauchnitz-Straße.
During my visit, the museum was preparing for its spring 2018 exhibition titled “Gaudiopolis,” which uses the City of Joy, a utopian experiment involving refugee orphans in 1940s Budapest, as its springboard. It deploys art to ask what compassion, democracy, and joy might look like in our times. In the past, the museum has commissioned work reflecting Leipzig’s evolving social realities: a 2015 film by Viennese artist Anna Witt focuses on a recent refugee from Syria who came to live in Leipzig, as well as one who fled East Germany in the 1980s. “The point is not to put art on a pedestal or to see it as a masterpiece,” said curator Julia Schäfer. “It’s to make connections.”
Cultivating Community through Art
The curatorial staff also uses the space to cultivate community. The museum sits across the street from the famed Academy of Visual Arts and engages students in collaborations. An old stable houses a piano school. Additionally, in 2010 and 2012, two former studios were redecorated by artists and converted into guest suites, making this perhaps the only museum in the world that doubles as an inn. “There’s no room service,” Schäfer said. “But there’s art!”
Experiencing Music in Leipzig
German music is blooming,” composer Robert Schumann wrote in 1840. He described his adopted hometown of Leipzig as a musical garden rivaling those of Europe’s greatest cities. That musical tradition continues. From the busy streets to serene parks, one can sense a vibrant audio landscape. You might hear a busking violinist playing a Bach gavotte, a children’s a cappella choir in a market square, and horns blaring in the conservatory founded by Mendelssohn in 1843.
Historical Roots of Music
In the mid-1700s, merchants and civic leaders created a musical ensemble for their own entertainment. Before this, nearly all European orchestras were assembled for royal audiences; this one was for the people, with its first venue being a tavern. Eventually, the orchestra moved into the Gewandhaus – the “garment house,” used by textile traders – and was renamed for that space in 1781.
Today, the Gewandhausorchester is one of the world’s premier orchestras. It will mark its 275th anniversary this year by welcoming Latvian conducting dynamo Andris Nelsons as its new Gewandhauskapellmeister. Its radical accessibility endures. You can hear Gewandhausorchester musicians perform nearly every Saturday at 3 p.m. in central Leipzig’s Thomaskirche, accompanying the church’s famed boys’ choir. Admission is just $2.50.
Bach’s Legacy
J. S. Bach served as choir director here for 27 years. Fittingly, the Saturday programs spotlight his work – a rare opportunity to hear classical music performed in the space for which it was written. The experience feels sacred as you soak in more than 500 years of history.
Creative Explorations
Entrepreneurial, not divine, inspiration led other musicians, such as Turkish-born violinist Kıvanç Tire, who launched musical after-parties called Klassik Underground. These events offer visits and engaging performances with renowned soloists. For the last concert, soprano Christina Landshamer sang a Bach cantata accompanied by Gewandhausorchester musicians, projected onto the Moritzbastei’s walls and ceilings.
Living History at Horns Erben
Later that night, I visited Horns Erben, a bar and music venue in a converted distillery south of the city center. Claudius Bruns created monthly improv-theater shows, riffing on historical themes while engaging locals and visitors alike through his unique performances.
The Fashion Scene
Local fashion designers Eva Howitz and Frieder Weissbach discussed how Leipzig nurtures an atmosphere of creativity, free from the commercial pressures faced in larger cities. They praised Leipzig’s unique mix of students, artists, and musicians, emphasizing the sense of community.
Dining and Experiences
This is the Leipzig I encountered, where hospitality extends to the dining scene. Falco, the only restaurant with two Michelin stars in the former East Germany outside Berlin, serves exquisite contemporary cuisine, while Das Japanische Haus creates inviting communal dining experiences, bringing together individuals from diverse backgrounds.
Getting There
While there are no nonstop flights from the U.S. to Leipzig/Halle Airport, you can connect via Frankfurt or Munich on Lufthansa. Deutsche Bahn operates high-speed nonstop train service from Berlin that takes about 75 minutes.
Getting Around
The historic center is easily walkable. To get to the Plagwitz and Lindenau neighborhoods, where most art galleries are located, and East Leipzig, home to the newest bars and boutiques, I relied on the efficient tram and bus network (most rides cost $3 each; a one-day pass is $9).
Lodging
I stayed at the discreet Luxury Collection property Hotel Fürstenhof Leipzig (doubles from $187), Leipzig’s take on the traditional European grande dame. The Meisterzimmer (doubles from $112) is a four-apartment pensione carved out of onetime industrial space in the Spinnerei complex. The apartments have soaring ceilings and massive windows.
Dining Options
For dining, Falco (tasting menus from $55) in the Westin Hotel offers sublime contemporary European cuisine. For a more casual meal, Pekar (entrées $7–$12) serves seasonally driven small plates and pizzas. You can also try Rudi for an excellent selection of German gins.
Unique Experiences
Most Saturdays at 3 p.m., you can hear the famed St. Thomas Boys Choir and the Gewandhausorchester at the Thomaskirche. The Spinnerei in Plagwitz features numerous galleries, shops, and a restaurant; guided tours are offered on Fridays and Saturdays. For a vibrant experience, attend the Klassik Underground events or visit the Museum of Contemporary Art featuring works by both local and international artists.
Content in this article was produced with assistance from Hotel Fürstenhof Leipzig, a Luxury Collection Hotel.
