Central and convenient

The H+ Hotel Leipzig is situated on the eastern edge of the city centre. It is located directly behind the Alter Johannisfriedhof cemetery. Lene-Voigt Park starts on the other side of the building complex, providing something different with play areas and meadows. The tram journey to the main train station, which is worth seeing in its own right, takes about five minutes. From here, you can get to the Messe exhibition centre in ten minutes and the airport in around 15 minutes, on the S-Bahn railway. You can walk to Leipzig city centre with its many sights really quickly: For example, you can get to Augustusplatz past the Grassi Museum in around ten minutes.

At 40,000 square metres, Augustusplatz is one the largest city squares in Germany. From the pre-war buildings, only the Mendebrunnen fountain of 1880 and the city’s first two high-rise buildings from the 1920’s remain. The Opera House, which dates back to the GDR days, was opened in 1960, the City Hochhaus (high-rise) is from 1972 and was the “Wisdom Tooth” of the university.

The Gewandhaus was opened in 1981 under the direction of Kurt Masur. The western side of the square is defined by the MDR “Kubus” or cube, as well as the university’s Augusteum and Paulinium. These buildings which were created after 2000 give the square a modern touch.

If you walk just five minutes further towards the city, you’ll come to the Nikolai church. It was built in the Romanesque style from 1165, and extended to become a late Gothic hall church in the 15th and 16th centuries. The impressive, classicist design of the interior dates back to the 18th century. In autumn 1989, the Nikolaikirche was the starting point for the peaceful revolution in the GDR.

The “Monday Demonstrations” grew out of the Monday prayers which had been held there since the start of the 1980’s. In 1989, tens of thousands, then even hundreds of thousands people demonstrated peacefully for democracy, free elections and the freedom to travel.

The city centre of Leipzig is characterised by the commercial courtyards once used for the Leipzig trade fair. These merchant’s houses with passages were designed to save coaches from having to turn in the courtyards. As well as Barthels Hof or Specks Hof, the Mädler-Passage, is particularly worth seeing, built between 1912 and 1914 to a Milanese plan. In the magnificent, four-storey passage, over 20 stores, restaurants and a cabaret theatre group invite you to enjoy a stroll and wile away the hours.

You’ll also find the entrance to “Auerbachs Keller” (cellar) in the passage, where Goethe used to like to spend his time, and where he set a literary memorial to the student scene in his “Faust I”. Today, a sculpture commemorates this: It is supposed to be lucky to touch the foot of the learned doctor. 

The Deutsche Bücherei (German Library) in Leipzig was founded in 1912 as the archive of German writing, and merged with the German Library in Frankfurt to become the “Deutsche Nationalbibliothek” or German National Library in 1990. The Leipzig site consists of the main building and several extension buildings. The total complex currently covers a storage area of 50,000 square metres, and there is space for over 500 curious readers in the historic reading rooms. You can visit the library as part of a guided tour.

The building also houses the German Book and Writing Museum, which ranks as the oldest, and one of the most important museums of book culture in the world. You can walk here from the H+ Hotel Leipzig in 20 minutes, through the Friedenspark.

The Gohliser Schlösschen Castle, with its enclosed garden, was built in the Rococo style in 1755/56, as the summer palace of the alderman Johann Caspar Richter. The ballroom is decorated with paintings by the Leipzig artist Adam Friedrich Oeser. Concerts are held here today, and there are guided tours, a café and a restaurant.

Another gem is just a few metres down Mencke street: The Schillerhaus, where Friedrich Schiller lived in 1785, is the oldest farmhouse in Leipzig. Today you will find a memorial and historic cottage garden here. It takes about ten minutes to drive here from the H+ Hotel Leipzig.