St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig

St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig tickets: which one to buy

Saint Nicholas Church, the Nikolaikirche, stands in the centre of Leipzig, near the Augustusplatz and the Opera House, and entry is free. It is the largest church in Leipzig and famous for two reasons: the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, who was music director here as well as at Saint Thomas Church, and the Monday prayers for peace that led to the Peaceful Revolution of 1989.

Walking tours of Leipzig combine the Nikolaikirche with Saint Thomas Church, the Bach Museum, the Old Town Hall, the Madler Passage and the Forum of Contemporary History, which tells the story of East Germany. Organ concerts and the weekly prayers for peace, still held on Mondays at five in the afternoon, are open to all. The church is an active Lutheran parish, and visiting pauses during services. The church is a short walk from Leipzig Hauptbahnhof, one of the largest railway stations in Europe.

Visiting St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig: what to see

The church was founded around 1165 and rebuilt in the Gothic style in the sixteenth century, and its interior was redesigned between 1784 and 1797 in a neoclassical style by Johann Friedrich Carl Dauthe. The result is unique: tall white columns end in capitals shaped like palm fronds, painted in pink and green, so the nave looks like a grove of palm trees. Several of Bach's works, including the Saint John Passion, were first performed here. In 1982 the church began hosting prayers for peace on Monday evenings, which became a centre of opposition to the East German regime; on 9 October 1989, more than seventy thousand people gathered in and around the church and marched peacefully around the city ring, a decisive moment on the road to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

A copy of one of the palm columns stands in the square outside as a memorial. The church's pulpit, from the sixteenth century, is decorated with carvings. The altar area holds paintings by Adam Friedrich Oeser. The organ, built by Friedrich Ladegast in the nineteenth century, is one of the largest in Saxony, and it is used for Bach concerts. Candles are lit at the front by visitors. Information panels describe the events of 1989 and the role of the church. The church's white and pastel interior is unusual among German churches. The tower's baroque cap was added in the eighteenth century. The Monday prayer meetings still draw people from across the city.

St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig opening hours and the best time to go

The church is open daily, and the prayers for peace are held every Monday at five in the afternoon. The anniversary of 9 October 1989 is celebrated with a Festival of Lights in the city centre. The Bach Festival in June brings concerts to the Nikolaikirche and Saint Thomas Church. Leipzig's Christmas market is one of the oldest in Germany. Summer is warm, and winter can be cold. Allow about twenty minutes for the church, more for a concert, and continue to Saint Thomas Church, about ten minutes away. The Forum of Contemporary History, a free museum about East Germany, is a few minutes' walk from the church.