Nikolaikirche

Bach began his Leipzig tenure here on May 30, 1723 with a cantata performance during the service. Traditionally, the church music of St. Nikolai is closely linked to the neighboring church of St. Thomas. Although St. Nicholas Church was considered the main parish church of Leipzig, it had its own organist but no cantor. As Thomas Cantor and Leipzig's "Director Musices", Bach was responsible for the church music in both main churches, St. Nikolai and St. Thomas, as well as in the New Church of St. Matthäi and St. Peter's Church. The Nikolai Church saw the most cantata performances under Bach's direction. Major works by Bach were also premiered here, including the St. John Passion (1724) and the Christmas Oratorio (1734/35).

Through the peace prayers, which still take place every Monday at 17 p.m., St. Nicholas Church became the starting point of the Peaceful Revolution in 1989 and thus a symbol of German reunification. The light installation "public light" in St. Nicholas Church courtyard consists of 144 colored glass cubes set into the pavement. It is a metaphor for the active will of the people in Leipzig and reflects the process of the situational flare-up of political awareness. The St. Nicholas Column, which is set up in front of the church and crowned with palm fronds, with its classicist column motif from the interior of the church, is also intended to remind people of those participants who could no longer find space in the overcrowded St. Nicholas Church in autumn 89.