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LEIPZIG

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 402 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LEIPZIG , a See also:

city of See also:Germany, the second See also:town of the See also:kingdom of See also:Saxony in See also:size and the first in commercial importance, 70 M. N.W. of See also:Dresden and 111 m. S.W. of See also:Berlin by See also:rail, and 6 m. from the Prussian frontier. Tt lies 2Co it. above the See also:sea-level. to a broad and fertile See also:plain, just above the junction of three small See also:rivers, the Pleisse, the Parthe and the See also:Elster, which flow in various branches through or See also:round the town and afterwards: under the name of the Elster, See also:discharge themselves into the See also:Saale. The See also:climate, though not generally unhealthy, may be inclement in See also:winter and hot in summer. Leipzig is one of the most enterprising and prosperous of See also:German towns, and in point of See also:trade and See also:industries ranks among German cities immediately after Berlin and See also:Hamburg. It possesses the third largest German university, is the seat of the supreme tribunal of the German See also:empire and the headquarters of the XIX. (Saxon) See also:army See also:corps, and forms one of the most prominent See also:literary and musical centres in See also:Europe. Its See also:general aspect is imposing, owing to the number of new public buildings erected during the last 20 years of the 19th See also:century. It consists of the old, or inner city, surrounded by a wide and pleasant See also:promenade laid out on the site of the old fortifications, and of the very much more extensive inner and See also:outer suburbs. Many thriving suburban villages, such as Reudnitz, Volkmarsdorf, Gohlis, Eutritzsch, Plagwitz and Lindenau, have been incorporated with the city, and with these accretions the See also:population in 1905 amounted to 502,J70. On the See also:north-See also:west the town is bordered by the See also:fine public See also:park and See also:woods of the See also:Rosenthal, and on the west by the Johanna Park and by pleasant groves leading along the See also:banks of the Pleisse.

The old town, with its narrow streets and numerous houses of the 16th and 17th centuries, with their high-pitched See also:

roofs, preserves much of its See also:quaint See also:medieval aspect. The See also:market square, lying almost in its centre, is of See also:great See also:interest. Upon it the four See also:main business streets, the Grimmaische-, the See also:Peters-, the Hain-and the Katharinen-strassen, converge, and its north See also:side is occupied by the beautiful old Rathaus, a See also:Gothic edifice built by the burgomaster Hieronymus Lotter in 1556, and containing See also:life-size portraits of the Saxon rulers. Superseded by the new Rathaus, it has been restored and accommodates a municipal museum. Behind the market square and the main See also:street See also:lie a See also:labyrinth of narrow streets interconnected by covered courtyards and alleys, with extensive warehouses and cellars. The whole, in the See also:time of the great fairs, when every available See also:place is packed with merchandise and thronged with a See also:motley See also:crowd, presents the semblance of an See also:oriental See also:bazaar. See also:Close to the old Rathaus is See also:Auerbach's See also:Hof, built about 1530 and interesting as being immortalized in See also:Goethe's See also:Faust. It has a curious old See also:wine vault (See also:Keller) which contains a See also:series of mural paintings of the 16th century, representing the See also:legend on which the See also:play is based. Near by is the picturesque Konigshaus, for several centuries the See also:palace of the Saxon monarchs in Leipzig and in which See also:King See also:Frederick See also:Augustus I. was made prisoner by the See also:Allies after the See also:battle of Leipzig in See also:October 1813. At the end of the Petersstrasse, in the See also:south-west corner of the inner town and on the promenade, See also:lay the Pleissenburg, or citadel, modelled, according to tradition, on that of See also:Milan, and built See also:early in the 13th century. Here See also:Luther in 1519 held his momentous disputation. The round See also:tower was See also:long used as an See also:observatory and the See also:building as a barrack.

With the exception of the tower, which has been encased and raised to See also:

double its former height—to 300 ft.—the citadel has been removed and its site is occupied by the majestic See also:pile of the new Rathaus in See also:Renaissance See also:style, with the tower as its central feature. The business of Leipzig is chiefly concentrated in the inner city, but the headquarters of the See also:book trade lie in the eastern suburb. Between the inner town and the latter lies the magnificent Augustusplatz, one of the most spacious squares in Europe. Upon it, on the side of the inner town and included within it, is the Augusteum, or main building of the university, a handsome edifice containing a splendid See also:hall (1900), lecture rooms and archaeological collections; adjoining it is the Paulinerkirche, the university See also:church. The other sides of the square are occupied by the new See also:theatre, an imposing Renaissance structure, designed by C. F. Langhans, the See also:post See also:office and the museum of See also:sculpture and See also:painting, the latter faced by the See also:Mende See also:fountain. The churches of Leipzig are comparatively uninteresting. The See also:oldest, in its See also:present See also:form, is the Paulinerkirche, built in 1229–1240, and restored in 1900, with a curiously grooved See also:cloister; the largest in the inner town is the Thomaskirche, with a high-pitched roof dating from 1496, andmemorable for its association with J. See also:Sebastian See also:Bach, who was organist here. Among others may be mentioned the new Gothic Petrikirche, with a lofty See also:spire, in the south suburb. On the See also:east is the Johanniskirche, round which raged the last conflict in the battle of 1813, when it suffered severely from See also:cannon shot.

In it is the See also:

tomb of Bach, and outside that of the poet See also:Gellert. Opposite its main entrance is the See also:Reformation See also:monument, with See also:bronze statues of Luther and See also:Melanchthon, by Johann Schilling, unveiled in 1883. In the Johanna Park is the Lutherkirche (1886), and close at See also:hand the See also:Roman See also:Catholic and See also:English churches. To the south-west of the new Rathaus, lying beyond the Pleisse and between it and the Johanna Park, is the new See also:academic See also:quarter. Along the fine thoroughfares, noticeable among which is the Karl See also:Tauchnitz Strasse, are closely grouped many striking buildings. Here is the new Gewandhaus, or Konzerthaus, built in 1880—1884, in which the famous concerts called after its name are given, the old Gewandhaus, or Drapers' Hall, in the inner town having again been devoted to commercial use as a market hall during the fairs. Immediately opposite to it is the new university library, built in 1891, removed hither from the old monasterial buildings behind the Augusteum, and containing some 500,000 volumes and 5000 See also:MSS. Behind that again is the See also:academy of See also:art, one wing of which accommodates the See also:industrial art school; and close beside it are the school of technical arts and the See also:conservatoire of See also:music. Between the university library and the new Gewandhaus stands a monument of Mendelssohn (1892). Immediately to the east of the school of arts rises the See also:grand pile of the supreme tribunal of the German empire, the Reichsgericht, which compares with the Reichstag building in Berlin. It was built in 1888–1895 from plans by See also:Ludwig See also:Hoffmann, and is distinguished for the symmetry and See also:harmony of its proportions. It bears an imposing See also:dome, 225 ft. high, crowned by a bronze figure of Truth by O.

See also:

Lessing, 18 ft. high. Opposite, on the outer side of the Pleisse, are the See also:district See also:law-courts, large and substantial, though not specially imposing edifices. In the same quarter stands the Grassi Museum (1893–1896) for industrial art and See also:ethnology, and a See also:short distance away are the palatial buildings of the Reichs and Deutsche Banks. Farther east and lying in the centre of the book-trade quarter stand close together the Buchhandlerhaus (booksellers' See also:exchange), the great hall decorated with allegorical pictures by Sascha See also:Schneider, and the Buchgewerbehaus, a museum of the book trade, both handsome red See also:brick edifices in the German Renaissance style, erected in 1886–1890. South-west of these buildings, on the other side of the Johannisthal Park, are clustered the medical institutes and hospitals of the university—the infirmary, clinical and other hospitals, the physico-chemical See also:institute, pathological institute; physiological institute, ophthalmic See also:hospital, pharmacological institute, the See also:schools of See also:anatomy, the chemical laboratory, the zoological institute, the physicomineralogical institute, the botanical See also:garden and also the veterinary schools, See also:deaf and dumb See also:asylum, agricultural See also:college and astronomical observatory. Among other noteworthy buildings in this quarter must be noted the Johannisstift, an asylum for the See also:relief of the aged poor, with a handsome front and slender spire. On the north side of the inner town and on the promenade are the handsome exchange with library, and the reformed church, a pleasing edifice in See also:late Gothic. Leipzig has some interesting monuments; the Siegesdenkmal, commemorative of the See also:wars of 1866 and 1870, on the market square, statues of Goethe, See also:Leibnitz, Gellert, J. Sebastian Bach, See also:Robert See also:Schumann, See also:Hahnemann, the homeopathist, and See also:Bismarck. There are also many memorials of the battle of Leipzig, including an See also:obelisk on the Randstadter-Steinweg, on the site of the See also:bridge which was prematurely blown up, when See also:Prince See also:Poniatowski was drowned; a monument of cannon balls collected after the battle; a " relief " to See also:Major Friccius, who stormed the outer See also:Grimma See also:gate; while on the battle plain itself and, close to " Napoleonstein," which commemorates See also:Napoleon's position on the last See also:day of the battle, a gigantic obelisk surrounded by a garden has been planned for See also:dedication on the hundredth anniversary of the battle (October 19, 1913). The University and See also:Education.—The university of Leipzig, founded in 1409 by a See also:secession of four See also:hundred German students from See also:Prague, is one of the most influential See also:universities in the See also:world. It was a few years since the most numerously attended of any university in Germany, but it has since been outstripped by those of Berlin and of See also:Munich.

Its large revenues, derived to a great extent from See also:

house See also:property in Leipzig and estates in Saxony, enable it, in See also:conjunction with a handsome See also:state subvention, to provide See also:rich endowments for the professorial chairs. To the several faculties also belong various collegiate buildings, notably, to the legal, that of the Collegium beatae Virginis in the Petersstrasse, and to the philosophical the See also:Rothe Haus on the promenade facing the theatre. The other educational institutions of Leipzig include the See also:Nicolai and See also:Thomas gymnasia, several " Realschulen," a commercial academy (Handelsschule), high schools for girls, and a large number of public and private schools of all grades. Art and Literature.—The city has a large number of literary, scientific and See also:artistic institutions. One of the most important is the museum, which contains about four hundred See also:modern paintings, a large number of casts, a few pieces of See also:original sculpture and a well-arranged collection of drawings and engravings. The collection of the See also:historical society and the ethnographical and art-industrial collections in the Grassi Museum are also of considerable interest. The museum was erected with See also:part of the munificent See also:bequest made to the city by See also:Dominic Grassi in 1881. As a musical centre Leipzig is known all over the world for its excellent conservatorium, founded in 1843 by Mendelssohn. The series of concerts given annually in the Gewandhaus is also of world-wide reputation, and the operatic See also:stage of Leipzig is deservedly ranked among the finest in Germany. There are numerous vocal and orchestral See also:societies, some of which have brought their art to a very high See also:pitch of perfection. The prominence of the See also:publishing interest has attracted to Leipzig a large number of gifted authors, and made it a literary centre of considerable importance. Over five hundred See also:newspapers and See also:periodicals are published here, including several of the most widely circulated in Germany.

Intellectual interests of a high See also:

order have always characterized, Leipzig, and what Karl von See also:Holtei once said of it is true to-day: " There is only one city in Germany that represents Germany; only a single city where one can forget that he is a See also:Hessian, a Bavarian, a Swabian, a Prussian or a Saxon; only one city where, amid the opulence of the commercial world with which See also:science is so gloriously allied, even the See also:man who possesses nothing but his See also:personality is honoured and esteemed; only one city, in which, despite a few narrownesses, all the advantages of a great, I may say a world-See also:metropolis, are conspicuous ! This city is, in my See also:opinion, and in my experience, Leipzig." See also:Commerce, Fairs.—The outstanding importance of Leipzig as a commercial town is mainly derived from its three great f airs, which annually attract an enormous concourse of merchants from all parts of Europe, and from See also:Persia, See also:Armenia and other See also:Asiatic countries. The most important fairs are held at See also:Easter and Michaelmas, and are said to have been founded as markets about 1170. The smaller New See also:Year's See also:fair was established in 148. Under the fostering care of the margraves of See also:Meissen, and then of the See also:electors of Saxony they attained great popularity. In 1 268 the See also:margrave of Meissen granted a safe-conduct to all frequenters of the fairs, and in 1497 and 1507 the See also:emperor See also:Maximilian I. greatly increased their importance by prohibiting the holding of See also:annual markets at any town within a wide See also:radius of Leipzig. During the See also:Thirty Years' See also:War, the Seven Years' War and the troubles consequent upon the See also:French Revolution, the trade of the Leipzig fairs considerably decreased, but it re-covered after the See also:accession of Saxony to the German Customs See also:Union (See also:Zollverein) in 1834, and for the next twenty years rapidly and steadily increased. Since then, owing to the greater facilities of communication, the transactions at the fairs have diminished in relative, though they have increased in actual, value. Wares that can be safely See also:purchased by See also:sample appear at the fairs in steadily diminishing quantities, while others, such as hides,furs and See also:leather, which require to be actually examined, show as marked an increase. The value of the sales considerably exceeds £so,000,000 See also:sterling per annum. The See also:principal commodity is furs (chiefly See also:American and See also:Russian), of which about one and a quarter million pounds See also:worth are sold annually; other articles disposed of are leather, hides, See also:wool, See also:cloth, See also:linen and See also:glass. The Leipzig wool-market, held for two days in See also:June, is also important.

In the trades of See also:

bookselling and publishing Leipzig occupies a unique position, not only taking the first place in Germany, but even surpassing See also:London and See also:Paris in the number and See also:total value of its sales. There are upwards of nine hundred publishers and booksellers in the town, and about eleven thousand firms in other parts of Europe are represented here. Several hundred booksellers assemble in Leipzig every year, and See also:settle their accounts at their own exchange (Buchhdndler-Borse). Leipzig also contains about two hundred See also:printing-See also:works, some of great extent, and a corresponding number of type-foundries, binding-shops and other kindred industries. The book trades give employment to over 15,000 persons, and since 1878 Leipzig has grown into an industrial town of the first See also:rank. The See also:iron and machinery trades employ 4500 persons; the textile industries, See also:cotton and See also:yarn See also:spinning and See also:hosiery, 6000; and the making of scientific and musical See also:instruments, including pianos, 2650. Other industries include the manufacture of artificial See also:flowers, See also:wax-cloth, chemicals, ethereal See also:oils and essences, See also:beer, See also:mineral See also:waters, See also:tobacco and cigars, See also:lace, indiarubber wares, See also:rush-See also:work and See also:paper, the preparation of furs and numerous other branches. These industries are mostly carried on in the suburbs of Plagwitz, Reudnitz, Lindenau, Gohlis, Eutritzsch, Konnewitz and the neighbouring town of Markranstadt. Communications.—Leipzig lies at the centre of a network of See also:railways giving it See also:direct communication with all the more important cities of Germany. There are six main See also:line railway stations, of which the Dresden and the See also:Magdeburg lie side by side in the north-east corner of the promenade, the Thuringian and Berlin stations further away in the See also:northern suburb; in the eastern is the See also:Eilenburg station (for See also:Breslau and the east) and in the south the Bavarian station. The whole See also:traffic of these stations is to be directed into a vast central station (the largest in the world), lying on the sites of the Dresden, Magdeburg and Thuringian stations. The estimated cost, See also:borne by See also:Prussia, Saxony and the city of Leipzig, is estimated at 6 million pounds sterling.

The city has an extensive electric See also:

tramway See also:system, bringing all the outlying suburbs into close connexion with the business quarters of the town. Population.—The population of Leipzig was quintupled within' the 19th century, rising from 31,887 in 1801 to 153,988 in 1881, to 4J5,089 in 1900 and to 502,570 in 1905. See also:History.—Leipzig owes its origin to a Slav See also:settlement between the Elster and the Pleisse, which was in .existence•before the year 1000, and its name to the Slav word See also:lipa, a See also:lime See also:tree. There was also a German settlement near this spot, probably round a See also:castle erected early in the loth century by the German king, See also:Henry the See also:Fowler. The district was part of the See also:mark of See also:Merseburg, and the bishops of Merseburg were the lords of extensive areas around the settlements. In the 11th century Leipzig is mentioned as a fortified place and in the 12th it came into the See also:possession of the margrave of Meissen, being granted some municipal privileges by the See also:mar-See also:grave, See also:Otto the Rich, before 1190. Its favourable situation in the midst of a plain intersected by the principal highways of central Europe, together with the fostering care of its rulers, now began the work of raising Leipzig to the position of a very important commercial town. Its earliest trade was in the See also:salt produced at See also:Halle, and its enterprising inhabitants constructed roads and See also:bridges to lighten the See also:journey of the traders and travellers whose way led to the town. Soon Leipzig was largely used as a See also:depot by the merchants of See also:Nuremberg, who carried on a considerable trade with See also:Poland. See also:Powers of self-See also:government were acquired by the See also:council (See also:Rat) of the town, the importance of which was enhanced during the 15th century by several grants of privileges from the emperors. When Saxony was divided in 1485 Leipzig See also:fell to the Albertine, or ducal See also:branch of the See also:family, whose See also:head See also:Duke See also:George gave new rights to the burghers. This duke, however, at whose instigation the famous discussion between Luther and Johann von See also:Eck took place in the Pleissenburg of Leipzig, inflicted some injury upon the town's trade and also upon its university by the harsh treatment which he meted out to the adherents of the new doctrines; but under the See also:rule of his successor, Henry, Leipzig accepted the teaching of the reformers.

In 1547 during the war of the See also:

league of See also:Schmalkalden the town was besieged by the elector of Saxony, See also:John Frederick I. It was not captured, although its suburbs were destroyed. These and the Pleissenburg were rebuilt by the elector 1\.aurice, who also strengthened the fortifications. Under the elector Augustus I. emigrants from the See also:Netherlands were encouraged to settle in Leipzig and its trade with Hamburg and with See also:England was greatly extended. During the Thirty Years' War Leipzig suffered six sieges and on four occasions was occupied by hostile troops, being retained by the Swedes as See also:security for the See also:payment of an See also:indemnity from 1648 to 165o. After 165o its fortifications were strengthened; its finances were put on a better footing; and its trade, especially with England, began again to prosper; important steps being taken with regard to its organization. Towards the end of the 17th century the publishing trade began to increase very rapidly, partly because the severity of the censorship at See also:Frankfort-on-the-Main caused many booksellers to remove to Leipzig. During the Seven Years' War Frederick the Great exacted a heavy contribution from Leipzig, but this did not seriously interfere with its prosperity. In 1784 the fortifications were pulled down. The wars in the first See also:decade of the 19th century were not on the whole unfavourable to the commerce of Leipzig, but in 1813 and 1814, owing to the presence of enormous armies in the neighbourhood, it suffered greatly. Another revival, however, set in after the See also:peace of 1815, and this was aided by the accession of Saxony to the German Zollverein in 1834, and by the opening of the first railway a little later. In 1831 the town was provided with a new constitution, and in 1837 a See also:scheme for the reform of the university was completed.

A See also:

riot in 1845, the revolutionary See also:movement of 1848 and the Prussian occupation of 1866 were merely passing shadows. In 1899 Leipzig acquired a new importance by becoming the seat of the supreme See also:court of the German empire. The immediate neighbourhood of Leipzig has been the See also:scene of several battles, two of which are of more than See also:ordinary importance. These are the battles of See also:Breitenfeld, fought on the 17th of See also:September 1631, between the Swedes under Gustavus See also:Adolphus and the imperialists, and the great battle of Leipzig, known in Germany as the Volkerschlacht, fought in October 1813 between Napoleon and the allied forces of See also:Russia, Prussia and See also:Austria. Towards the See also:middle of the 18th century Leipzig was the seat of the most influential See also:body of literary men in Germany, over whom Johann Christoph See also:Gottsched, like his contemporary, See also:Samuel See also:Johnson, in England, exercised a See also:kind of literary dictatorship. Then, if ever, Leipzig deserved the epithet of a " Paris in See also:miniature " (See also:Klein Paris) assigned to it by Goethe in his Faust. The See also:young Lessing produced his first play in the Leipzig theatre, and the university See also:counts Goethe, See also:Klopstock, See also:Jean See also:Paul See also:Richter, See also:Fichte and See also:Schelling among its alumni. See also:Schiller and Gellert also resided for a time in Leipzig, and Sebastian Bach and Mendelssohn filled musical posts here. Among the celebrated natives of the town are the philosopher Leibnitz and the composer See also:Wagner.

End of Article: LEIPZIG

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