Leipzig

The first church built here was a Romanesque structure in the 1100s. In 1217 the minnesinger (the German version of a troubadour) Heinrich von Morungen gave the church a relic of Saint Thomas which he brought back from India, upon his entrance into the Augustian Canons. The church went through many renovations. The first major change was from Romanesque to Gothic style in the 1480s with the influx of money from the silver mines of the Erzgebirge. More renovations were carried out in the 1700s in the Baroque style, however in the late 1880s these were refashioned closer to their original Gothic trappings.

The church, like many in Saxony, became Lutheran in the course of the Reformation. In 1539 Martin Luther preached here on Pentecost. It also has strong associations with famous musical figures. JS Bach was the music director from 1723 until his death in 1750, and also taught at the school. Mozart played the church's organ in 1789, and in 1813 Richard Wagner was baptized at Thomaskirche.

Parts of the church were destroyed in 1943. In 1950, the bones of Bach were moved from their resting place in the graveyard of Saint John's when it was demolished by the Communist government, and interred in Saint Thomas. Sulfur emitted by nearby mines and other industrial pollutants in the post war period badly damaged the exterior statuary, and the paintings inside, despite some restoration done in the early 1960s. A more effective restoration was undertaken by the World Monuments Fund with money from American Express in the early Twenty-first Century.

There are some notable, but not well known, pieces of art in the church: a Döteber baptismal font and a crucifix by Casper Löbel, which probably hung in the church during Bach's tenure. Much of the stained glass is from the 1890s.

Oh, apologies for Bach's upside down tomb. You couldn't go all the way to where it is.

Posting on Goerdeler and first day Christmas markets will have to wait until tomorrow. We've been up close to thirty-four hours. It's 8:00 PM German time and I'm going to bed.En savoir plus