Leipzig – a city reinvents itself
1,000 years after the city was first mentioned in records, Leipzig is seen as a young, creative and ambitious city.
Things looked bleak in Leipzig immediately after German re-unification in 1990. Many houses stood empty, entire districts looked close to collapse. Not until the beginning of the new millennium did the successful car makers BMW and Porsche discover Leipzig as a production location. This was the initial spark that stimulated the development of the town. Dozens of supplier companies followed – and attracted even more. This generated jobs and an improved infrastructure – and also a certain “scene”.
Point of attraction for young artists
Young people from the “West” discovered Leipzig as an ideal place to study with its low rents. The Leipzig Book Fair attracts creative people every year. And, in addition to the Academy of Fine Arts, where the internationally renowned artist Neo Rauch studied and lectured, Leipzig’s German Literature Institute and the University of Music and Theatre made sure there was a creative “scene”. It is above all the districts on the outskirts of the city where the creative young people feel most at home: Reudnitz in the east, Lindenau and Plagwitz in the west. When you walk through this areas, you discover a different world. Probably no other place in Germany has a greater concentration of independent galleries. Leipzig, therefore, proudly presents itself in its anniversary year with the slogan: “We Are The City”.
1,000 years of Leipzig on 20 December 2015
