St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, Germany

St. Thomas Church is associated with a number of well-known composers such as Richard Wagner and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, but mostly with Johann Sebastian Bach who worked here as a Kapellmeister (music director) from 1723 until his death in 1750. Today, the church also holds his remains. Martin Luther preached here in 1539.

There has been a church at the current site of the Thomaskirche at least since the 12th century. Foundations of a Romanesque building have been discovered in the choir and crossing of the current church. Between 1212 and 1222 the earlier structure became the church of the new St. Thomas Monastery (Stift) of the Augustinian order.

The current building was consecrated by Thilo of Trotha, the Bishop of Merseburg, on 10 April 1496. The reformer Martin Luther preached here on Pentecost Sunday in 1539. The monastic buildings were demolished in 1541 following the monastery's dissolution. The current church tower was first built in 1537 and rebuilt in 1702. Chapels added in the 17th century and an ante-building along the northern front of the nave with two stairways were removed at the end of the 19th century.

References:

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User Reviews

Paul (4 months ago)
Attended the Silvester Motette on New Year's Eve. A beautiful church setting and magnificent choral and organ music of Johann Sebastian Bach and others. A magnificent experience. To hear such music with such performances and acoustic in the place he composed and first performed it was quite incredible.

Steven Cheng (5 months ago)
We were here by a part of our European beer tour. We never knew Leipzig has been such big part of Classical Music! There was some Symphony in practice going while we were there. The acoustic.Sounds was fantastic!

Zehra Nalci (6 months ago)
It is not a big church but the interior is nice. It is across the street of Bach Museum and there is a Bach statue in front of it.

Dallin Romney (7 months ago)
Stunning church with the grave of the great classical musician Bach (he worked here). Nice side room that has a museum style display about bach, with artifacts

Damian Tapley (10 months ago)
This is the church where JS Bach was the cantor for many years. A highlight of Leipzig. Entry is free or donation. There is a small museum room which is easily overlooked - it’s on your right as you walk in or on your left as you walk out. This room and the other bits of information near the entrance (in German and English) gives more context. The sound of the organ is impressive. On weekends they do a service seemingly at 9:30am and 6pm (Sat & Sun) which has the organ playing and some hymns sung by the church-goers. In my opinion as it is a notable historic site, there should be a lot less talky-talky from the priest, and more music. The entrance is near the statue - something also worth seeing. There is also a stained-glass window depiction of Bach himself and it’s worth looking out for that when inside the church.

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