Nikolaikirche or St. Nicholas Church stands near the historic center of Leipzig at the crossroads of two main trade routes. Founded around 1165, it was dedicated to the patron saint of merchants and wholesalers. The church was built partially in the Romanesque style but was later extended with a more Gothic style In 1794 the interior was remodeled by the German architect Johann Carl Friedrich Dauthe in the neoclassical style. The church has been a Protestant seat since 1539, after the Protestant Reformation, but the Catholic Church is allowed to use it as well. The Thomanechor (the St. Thomas Choir)  has performed here. And, the church was the venue for four of the five performances, (including the premier) of St. John’s Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach on Good Friday in 1724, 1728, 1732, and 1749.   Today, the church has been made famous as the site where the people of Leipzig gathered to pray for peace in the autumn of 1989; and, it now stands as a symbol of freedom after the fall of communism. The action taken by the people from the whole of the former GDR  (German Democratic Republic), those who wanted to leave the country, those who were curious, regime critics and Stasi (State Security Police) personnel, church staff and SED members, Christians and Non-Christians stood beneath the outspread arms of the crucified and resurrected Jesus Christ. In view of the political reality between 1949 and 1989, the church considers this possibility to have defied all imagination. The reunification of Germany and the fall of communism came exactly 450 years after the introduction of the Reformation in Leipzig, and 176 years after the Battle of Nations marked the end of the reign of Napoleon. Cabaret artist Bernd-Lutz Lange said about the events that started in the St. Nicholas Church: “There was no head of the revolution. The head was the Nikolaikirche and the body the center of the city. There was only one leadership:  Monday, 5 pm, St. Nicholas Church.

PHOTOS:  The neo-classical interior of St. Nikolaikirche in Leipzig. by Johann Carl Friedrich Dauthe c. 1794:  Top Two: 1.  Detail: Entrance foyer 2. Detail, interior dome. Left Two: 1.  Detail of column and coffered ceiling. 2. Arched window. Center: Painting of the birth of Christ. Right Two: 1. Interior and ceiling of the Apse 2. Interior and ceiling of the Choir.

JOURDAN ARPELLE-ZIEGLER                                   BACK TO MAP  PAGE