St Thomas Church, Leipzig

St Thomas Church, Leipzig tickets: which one to buy

Entry to the church is free with a donation box. The tower climb, 179 steps to a gallery with a view over the city, runs at set times at weekends and on some weekdays for a small fee. The real event is music: the Thomanerchor, a boys' choir founded around 1212, sings motets on Friday evenings and cantatas on Saturday afternoons during term, and tickets cost a few euros and are sold at the door an hour before.

Organ recitals are free or cheap. The Bach Museum opposite charges its own modest ticket and is excellent. Walking tours of Bach's Leipzig include both and cost several times that. The church is in the middle of the old town, five minutes from the market square, so nothing needs planning beyond the concert times. The church shop sells recordings by the Thomanerchor, which is the practical alternative if the concert dates do not fit.

Visiting St Thomas Church, Leipzig: what to see

A church has stood here since the twelfth century and the present late-Gothic hall church was consecrated in 1496, with a steep roof and a tower rebuilt in 1702. Martin Luther preached here at Pentecost in 1539, introducing the Reformation to Leipzig. Johann Sebastian Bach was Thomaskantor from 1723 until his death in 1750, writing the Passions and most of the cantatas for this building and its choir; the St John Passion and the St Matthew Passion were both first performed in the church.

His grave is in the chancel, marked by a plain bronze slab, though the bones were moved here only in 1949 after the church that first held them was destroyed. A window commemorates Mendelssohn, who rediscovered Bach's music in the nineteenth century, and another records the peaceful prayers of 1989 that began in the city's churches. A bronze statue of Bach stands outside the south wall, put up in 1908, and shows him with one coat pocket turned out as a reference to his constant arguments about money.

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

Open daily from morning to evening, closing during services and concerts. Friday motets are usually at six and Saturday cantatas in the afternoon during the choir's term; the schedule is published a season ahead and the church fills. The Bach Festival in June fills the whole city. The interior is white and bright and photographs well at any hour. Winter in Leipzig is grey and the church is cold. Dress is informal.

Photography without flash is allowed outside services. Allow half an hour for the church, an hour with the museum. The Nikolaikirche, where the 1989 Monday demonstrations began, is ten minutes away and is free. Leipzig's Christmas market surrounds the church in December and the choir sings additional programmes through Advent. The church's own guided tours in German run at set times on most days and take in the crypt, which is otherwise closed to visitors.