Many people’s main reason for visiting Nikolaikirche Leipzig is its role in the revolution that brought down the Communist regime in East Germany. The peaceful protests that began in St Nicholas Church helped shape modern Europe, but it’s also a beautiful church with stunning decoration, its interior columns like a forest of palm trees.
Add in its history as a church where Johann Sebastian Bach frequently performed, and you have one of the best places to visit in Leipzig. If you have even the slightest interest in German history, it’s not to be missed.
This is my guide to visiting the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig. It covers the history of the church, its main features, how to get there and what to see nearby. I hope you find it helpful.
Early History
The Leipzig Nikolaikirche was founded in 1165 and built in the Romanesque style. However, as Leipzig grew wealthy through the Middle Ages, it was gradually converted into a Gothic church.
It became a Protestant church after the Reformation, and was the main parish church for the centre of Leipzig for centuries.
It hosted many performances by Johann Sebastian Bach, Choirmaster at the nearby Thomaskirche (St Thomas Church), and the Thomanerchor (St Thomas Choir).
The interior was completely remodelled in the late 18th century.
The 1989 Monday Demonstrations
The Nikolaikirche Monday prayer meetings began as early as 1982, with a small group of people offering prayers for peace. The tradition – with prayers at 5 pm – was begun in 1982 by pastor Günter Johansson, and continued by his successors Christoph Wonneberger and Christian Führer.
The Communist regime’s grip on power had been weakened by background events in 1989, including the policies of glasnost and perestroika initiated by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
The Communists had also been swept from power in Poland, and Hungary had opened its border with Austria, allowing many East Germans to cross over to the West. This was the first big crack in the Iron Curtain.
These Monday prayers attracted a diverse crowd – some who wanted to leave the GDR, others who wanted to oust the Communist regime. The crowds grew through 1989, and by September had turned into Monday demonstrations, increasingly attracting the authorities’ attention. Some of these protests were violently suppressed.
Matters came to a head on October 9, 1989, two days after the 40th anniversary of the foundation of the GDR.
A march with anything between 70,000 and 100,000 people left the Nikolaikirche, making their way the short distance to the Leipzig Opera House, and along the Ring road to the Stasi headquarters at the Runde Ecke. A large cordon of police withdrew to let the crowd pass at the railway station.
This was the moment when the GDR truly cracked – they could not contain the demonstrations, and the leadership realised that they couldn’t just impose their will by force as was previously the case.
The Monday demonstrations grew over the following few weeks, and on 9th November 1989, the Berlin Wall fell.
What To See When Visiting Nikolaikirche Leipzig
From the outside, the Nikolaikirche looks like a classic Gothic hall church with some surviving Romanesque elements. Inside, however, it’s very different. It was rebuilt between 1784 and 1797 by Johann Carl Friedrich Dauthe. This is from the classicist period which followed Baroque and Rococo in the late 18th century.
Nave
The nave of the Nikolaikirche Leipzig is very striking at first sight. The interior is dominated by the pink columns of the nave, topped with green palm fronds, with a pink, white and green ceiling vault.
Dauthe sought to conceal every trace of the church’s Gothic past, which explains the palm branches at the top of the columns. They didn’t just serve a decorative purpose – they also hid part of the earlier Gothic vaulting.
Organ
Organ concerts are often given in the Nikolaikirche. There has been an organ in the church for well over 500 years, and the present instrument has been getting some recent upgrades.
Much of the organ was the work of organ builder Friedrich Ladegast, who worked on the organ between 1857 and 1862. The façade and pipes of the organ are largely his work.
More recently the car manufacturer Porsche has donated some new stops to the organ, having also contributed to an earlier restoration.
Peaceful Revolution Exhibition
There is a small exhibition in a room off the south aisle of the church. It briefly tells the story of the Church’s role in what is now called the Peaceful Revolution (Friedliche Revolution in German).
The exhibition is all in German – I could understand most of it, but it would have helped if even a few captions were translated into English to guide non-German-speaking visitors along the way.
St Nicholas Column (Nikolaisäule)
This monument stands across the Nikolaikirchhof square from the Church. Apart from the colour of the column shaft (white rather than pink) it’s a reproduction of the columns within the church itself.
The column commemorates the Monday Demonstration of 9th October 1989, and there’s a small plaque bearing this date at its base. It was designed by Andreas Stötzner, a Leipzig artist, and completed in 1989.
It’s meant to symbolise the spread of ideas within the church to the wider world. Some have interpreted the palm branches sprouting from the top of the column as new ideas taking root. But the branches on the original columns inside the church weren’t added for this purpose.
Where Is The Nikolaikirche In Leipzig
The Nikolaikirche is at Nikolaistrasse 3, 04109 Leipzig.
It’s in the eastern part of the Altstadt (Old Town), which is often referred to as Leipzig Centrum (Leipzig City Centre).
It’s easy to reach on foot or by public transport.
How To Get To Nikolaikirche Leipzig
The Nikolaikirche is in the historic centre of Leipzig, and very easy to reach on foot or by public transport.
Firstly, it’s only around 10 minutes’ walk from Leipzig Hauptbahnhof, the city’s main train station, around which many of its hotels are concentrated.
The easiest way is to exit the station via the Osthalle (East Hall or entrance), cross the street, walk about 50 metres through the pleasant Unterer Park. Then you pass the Leipzig tour buses and walk down Ritterstrasse for around 300 metres until you reach the church and its square on your right. Continue around the front of the church to your right, then left.
The Nikolaikirche is also very close to one of the main tram stops in Leipzig, Augustusplatz. Trams 8,10,11,12, 14, 15 and 16 all stop at different points around the square. From there, it’s only a 3- to 5-minute walk to the Nikolaikirche.
Alternatively the Leipzig S-Bahn and bus 89 stop at Markt, the main square next to the Old Town Hall. From there it’s only a 5-minute walk along busy Grimmaischer Strasse, with a left turn a few metres up Nikolaistrasse, to reach the church.
Things To See Near The Nikolaikirche In Leipzig
The Nikolaikirche is a very short walk from Augustusplatz, one of two main squares in the city. The Monday marches passed through the square in 1989. The GDR authorities blew up the university church, the Paulinerkirche, in 1968, ostensibly to make way for new university buildings. A new church, the Paulinum, has since been built on the site.
The Augustusplatz is also home to two of Leipzig’s main performance spaces, the Leipzig Oper at the northern end and the Gewandhaus at the southern end.
If you turn right along Grimmaischer Strasse instead of left, you’ll reach the Markt, the heart of old Leipzig. Here you’ll find the superb Old Town Hall, which houses the excellent Leipzig City History Museum, and the nearby Thomaskirche, Leipzig’s other famous church. Johann Sebastian Bach was Choirmaster there for 27 years – from 1723 to 1750 – and the excellent Bach Museum Leipzig, which delves into his life in the city.
Visiting Nikolaikirche Leipzig – Final Words
I hope you have found my guide to visiting the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig helpful. Even if you only have one day in Leipzig I’d urge you to visit the church. Obviously for the huge role it played in bringing about the end of Communist East Germany. But its colourful, florid Baroque interior is quite a surprise, and well worth seeing regardless of the church’s history. For information on more sights, especially if you’re new to the city, check out my guide to the best Leipzig landmarks to visit.
If you’re interested in discovering more about the Wende or Peaceful Revolution, I suggest a visit to the nearby Leipzig City History Museum and Zeitgeschichtliches Forum. The Stasi Museum Leipzig, in the Runde Ecke building on Dittrichring gives you a great insight into life under the watchful eyes of the Stasi, the ‘Sword and Shield’ of the Soviet-imposed socialist state. And Berlin – the focal point of much of the Cold War – is an excellent place to explore – take a look at my guide to the best Berlin Cold War sites to visit.
For more outstanding churches to visit in Germany, check out my guide to visiting Naumburg Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site a short train ride from Leipzig. Also don’t miss my guides to the Frauenkirche Dresden, and more Churches in Dresden to visit.
And take a look at my guide to the best churches in Quedlinburg to visit, a guide to the Romanesque treasures of one of the most beautiful towns in Germany. Also see my guide to the best things to do in Quedlinburg for further information and ideas.
And for a relatively unexplored aspect of Germany’s amazing capital, check out my guide to the best Churches in Berlin to visit.
If you’re spending some time in the region, check out my guides to the best day trips from Leipzig and the best places to visit in eastern Germany. If you’re heading on a longer journey, take a look at my guide to the best places to visit in Germany.
And finally, feel free to browse my Germany Travel Guide page for more ideas on visiting this amazing country.
David Angel is a British photographer, writer and historian. He is a European travel expert with over 30 years’ experience exploring Europe. He has a degree in History from Manchester University, and his work is regularly featured in global media including the BBC, Condé Nast Traveler, The Guardian, The Times, and The Sunday Times. David is fluent in French and Welsh, and can also converse in Italian, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Czech and Polish.