New Town Hall

Leipzig, Germany

Leipzig New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus) is the seat of the Leipzig city administration since 1905. It stands within the Leipzig's 'ring road' on the southwest corner opposite the city library at Martin-Luther-Ring. The main tower is, at 114.8 meters, the tallest city hall tower in Germany.

In 1895 the city of Leipzig was granted the site of the Pleissenburg by the Kingdom of Saxony to build a new town hall. A competition was held for architectural designs with the specification that the Rapunzel tower silhouette of the Pleißenburg be retained. In 1897 the architect and city building director of Leipzig Hugo Licht was awarded the job of designing it.

The foundation stone of the New Town Hall was laid on 19 October 1899. The town hall was built in the style of historicism.

The hall is notable as the location of numerous mass suicides during the final days of the Third Reich.

References:

Comments

Your name



Details

Founded: 1899
Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in Germany
Historical period: German Empire (Germany)

More Information

en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.6/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Virginia L (6 months ago)
Very beautiful new town house! Don’t miss some info board about what happen there in 89
Tom Hutchinson (9 months ago)
I went on the tour to climb the (slightly ridiculous) tower. It was great. Check the times on their website but you can just turn up and buy a 3 euro ticket. You gotta climb a bunch of stairs but that's ok, you get great views from the top and they don't hurry you out.
Binxu748er (20 months ago)
Came here for research purposes. Conducted pressure measurements from the top of the tower. The town hall in itself is beautiful from both the inside and the outside. Sadly the paternoster lift was out of order. The view from the top is great.
Venula Tharusha (2 years ago)
Leipzig New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus) is the seat of the Leipzig city administration since 1905. It stands within the Leipzig's "ring road" on the southwest corner opposite the city library at Martin-Luther-Ring. The main tower is, at 114.8 meters, the tallest city hall tower in Germany. At the end of the nineteenth century, the Old Town Hall located at the marketplace finally proved too small for the booming city. In 1895 the city of Leipzig was granted the site of the Pleissenburg by the Kingdom of Saxony to build a new town hall. A competition was held for architectural designs with the specification that the Rapunzel tower silhouette of the Pleißenburg be retained. In 1897 the architect and city building director of Leipzig Hugo Licht was awarded the job of designing it. The foundation stone of the New Town Hall was laid on 19 October 1899. The town hall was built in the style of historicism. The hall is notable as the location of numerous mass suicides during the final days of the Third Reich. The Israeli author Yosef Agnon (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1966) describes in the second chapter of his novel "In Mr. Lublin's Store", how the nameless first-person narrator, a young jewish man from Galicia, haunted in 1915 the authoritative new town hall for obtaining a residence permit in Leipzig. The town hall features as a backdrop in the Alfred Hitchcock film Torn Curtain.
Binxu748er (2 years ago)
Came here for research purposes. Conducted pressure measurements from the top of the tower. The town hall in itself is beautiful from both the inside and the outside. Sadly the paternoster lift was out of order. The view from the top is great.
Powered by Google

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Celje Castle

Celje Castle was once the largest fortification on Slovenian territory. The first fortified building on the site (a Romanesque palace) was built in the first half of the 13th century by the Counts of Heunburg from Carinthia on the stony outcrop on the western side of the ridge where the castle stands. It had five sides, or four plus the southern side, which was a natural defence. The first written records of the castle date back to between 1125 and 1137; it was probably built by Count Gunter. In the western section of the castle, there was a building with several floors. Remains of the walls of this palatium have survived. In the eastern section, there was an enclosed courtyard with large water reservoirs. The eastern wall, which protects the castle from its most exposed side, was around three metres thicker than the rest of the curtain wall. The wall was topped with a parapet and protected walkway.