Leipzig - City of Learning and Culture

Saturday – Our waking routine is now set, every morning coffee in bed at 07:30, up at 8:30 for breakfast followed by ablutions and then to start the day. Today we visited the Federal Supreme Court with a German speaking group tour. The guide spoke so rapidly that not even the Germans could all understand him and there was no hope for me or Sylvie. Notwithstanding the court is a lovely and historic building lucky to survive the ravages of war and Communist willful destruction of historic sites. The building was commenced in 1879 and survived WW2 with minimal damage. During the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) or (German Democratic Republic) period the building was used as a museum of fine arts. Our next call was at the new university, the original founded in 1409 was demolished in 1968 by Walter Ulbricht (communist) to make way for a cold ugly socialist structure. Before returning home in sleet and rain we stopped for a welcome coffee and cake in Café Waldi.

Leipzig University
Leipzig University, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Elector of Saxony and his brother William II, Margrave of Meissen, and originally comprised four scholastic faculties. Since its inception, the university has engaged in teaching and research for over 600 years without interruption. The university was modelled on the University of Prague, from which the German-speaking faculty members withdrew to Leipzig after the Jan Hus crisis and the Decree of Kutná Hora. The Alma mater Lipsiensis ("almae matres" is a Latin phrase meaning 'nourishing mother') opened in 1409, after it had been officially chartered by Pope Alexander V in his Bull of Acknowledgment. Its first rector was Johannes Otto von Münsterberg. From its foundation, the Paulinerkirche served as the university church. After the Reformation, the church and the monastery buildings were donated to the university in 1544. In order to secure independent and sustainable funding, the university was endowed with the lordship over nine villages east of Leipzig (university villages). It kept this status for nearly 400 years until land reforms were carried out in the 19th century. Famous alumni include Angela Merkel, Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Nietzsche, Robert Schumann, Richard Wagner. The university is associated with ten Nobel laureates, most recently with Svante Pääbo who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2022.Read more