Most people have one reason for visiting Thomaskirche Leipzig. It’s the church most closely associated with composer Johann Sebastian Bach, choirmaster at the church from 1723 until his death in 1750. Aside from Bach it has a rich musical history, with Mozart having played there and Richard Wagner being baptized there in 1813.
Widely known as the Bach Church, a visit to the Thomaskirche is one of the essential things to do In Leipzig. As well as being a highly impressive late Gothic church, it remains home to the prestigious Thomanerchor which Bach led, and they perform three times weekly at the church.
In this guide I describe what to see in this fascinating church in detail, and run through all the practicalities you’ll need to visit, including how to get there and opening times. I’ll also point you in the direction of several other things to see in Leipzig, the majority of which are just a short walk from the Thomaskirche. Enjoy.
Visiting Thomaskirche Leipzig – What To See
Johann Sebastian Bach Statue
The imposing statue of Bach stands a few metres from the church, was sculpted by Carl Seffner and unveiled in 1908. The statue is 2.45 metres tall, and stands on a plinth over 3 metres high
Seffner modelled Bach’s head on a copy of what is believed to be Bach’s skull, which was held in the city’s University.
There was considerable debate about the location of the statue, which replaced an earlier, much smaller monument that is now located 50 metres away overlooking the Dittrichring road. Some proposed siting the statue outside the Johanniskirche, where Bach’s remains were buried at the time. But the decision was eventually made to locate it outside the Thomaskirche.
Exterior and Tower
The exterior of the church is dominated by the 223-foot (68-metre) tower on the north side of the church. You can climb the tower between April and November (Saturdays at 1.00 pm, 2.00pm and 4.30 pm, and Sundays at 2.00 pm and 3.00 pm) and you can book your Thomaskirche tower tickets here.
You’re rewarded with a fine view of the towers and rooftops of Leipzig city centre, with the Nikolaikirche, New Town Hall and City Hochhaus prominent landmarks.
The west façade of the church was rebuilt 1880s, and the west door was renamed the Mendelssohn Portal in honour of composer Felix, who was also a Leipzig resident for some years.
Interior
The church bears little trace of the original Romanesque building founded late in the 12th century. Most of it was rebuilt in the 15th century, so what you see today is a classic eastern German late Gothic period hall church.
The church is very wide and spacious, with a central nave and two side aisles. The fine red-painted ribbed vault dates from this period. It’s beautifully lit by stained glass, particularly at the clerestory level above the nave arches.
As with some hall churches (like the Petrikirche in Bautzen), the chancel (the east end of the church, which includes the choir and high altar) is offset slightly to one side. This is deliberate, and said to symbolize Christ’s head leaning at a slight angle from the rest of his body while he was being crucified.
Stained Glass Windows
The stained-glass windows in the Thomaskirche richly illuminate the church’s interior whenever the sun shines, adding to the atmosphere within. Much of the glass dates back to the 19th and early 20th centuries, including some of the clerestory windows.
And there are also windows dedicated to Bach (it’s directly aligned with the statue of him outside the church, fellow Leipzig composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and another featuring Martin Luther (who once preached in the Thomaskirche) alongside another church reformer, Philipp Melanchthon, and Frederick the Wise of Saxony.
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Grave
Bach’s tomb, with his name the only inscription, is at the entrance to the choir or chancel of the church.
He and his wife Anna Magdalena were originally buried in the Johannisfriedhof, the cemetery adjacent to the Johanniskirche (St John’s Church), which was destroyed in a 1943 bombing raid.
The remains of Bach were removed after the destruction of the church, and eventually relocated to the Thomaskirche, where they have been interred ever since. Questions have been raised over whether the remains are actually those of Bach, but as they have never been tested using modern techniques, doubt will remain in some minds.
The walls of the choir are lined with portraits of previous priests at the Thomaskirche going back several hundred years.
Memorials
A few superb medieval memorials have survived in the Thomaskirche. The two most impressive of these are the gravestone of nobleman Nickel Pflugk (pictured), an important person in the Saxon royal court, and knight Hermann von Harras, who dies in 1451.
Both memorials can be found on the south wall of the nave.
Thomanerchor – St Thomas’ Church Choir
The Thomanerchor, founded in 1212, is believed to be the oldest choir in the world. It has endured over 800 years, and is renowned for having been led by Thomaskantor (St Thomas Choirmaster) Johann Sebastian Bach for 27 years.
It’s an all-male choir with choristers ranging in age from the age of ten to early twenties.
They regularly perform three times a week at the Thomaskirche. Admission to the motet performances at 6.00 pm on Fridays and 3.00 pm on Saturdays costs just €3.00. And they also usually sing at the Sunday 9.30 am service.
Otherwise, they sometimes perform concerts at the Nikolaikirche and other venues around Leipzig, and undertake tours worldwide.
Bach Museum
Bach Museum Leipzig is less than a minute’s walk from the church, a few metres away across the street.
It’s located in the Bose Haus, home of a wealthy Leipzig family only 50 metres or so from where Bach and his family lived, in the now-demolished Thomasschule.
Along with the museum in Vach’s birthplace in Eisenach, it’s the best museum devoted to the composer. The exhibition does a great job setting the scene, giving you a vivid impression of life in 18th-century Leipzig and delving into some of his less-known, more Baroque-tinged compositions.
It also houses some outstanding Bach treasures, including several original handwritten scores and the most famous – perhaps even the definitive – portrait of him by Elias Gottlob Haussmann from 1748.
Where Is Leipzig Thomaskirche
The Thomaskirche is on Thomaskirchhof (St Thomas’ Churchyard), just off the Markt, the main square in the heart of historic Leipzig.
How To Get To The Thomaskirche Leipzig
The historic centre of Leipzig – the Mitte district – is small, and the Museum is only a 15-minute walk from the main train station (Hauptbahnhof).
Alternatively, trams 9 and 16 stop at Thomaskirche, only a 100-metre walk from the church. Bus 89 – the one bus which runs around the historic centre – also stops there, and at the Leipzig Markt stop the other side of the church.
You can also catch the U2 (red line) U-Bahn train to Markt from the Hauptbahnhof, or the U1 blue line. The station is again only around 100 metres from the church.
Thomaskirche Leipzig Opening Hours
The church is open daily from 9.00 am to 6.00 pm. Entry without a guided tour is free.
Other Places To Visit In Leipzig
Leipzig is a wonderful city to visit, in my view, one of the best places to visit in Germany. The two things the city is best known for are its connections to Bach and its role in the Wende, the ‘Peaceful Revolution’ that brought down the Soviet-backed East German Communist regime in 1989.
The city is also renowned as the setting for the 1813 Battle of the Nations, in which Napoleon Bonaparte’s forces suffered a major defeat at the hands of a combined Prussian, Austrian, Swedish and Russian army. One of the most famous Leipzig landmarks is the Battle of the Nations Monument, a 15-minute tram ride from the centre of the city, which commemorates this momentous Battle. It was built to commemorate the centenary of the Battle in 1913.
It’s not widely known, but there are some wonderful Art Nouveau Leipzig treasures to discover, particularly some of the building decorations along Nikolaistrasse. The statues on the Battle of the Nations Monument also show influences from this era, as do the gateway and buildings near the entrance of Leipzig Zoo.
Close to the Thomaskirche, the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) is home to the excellent Leipzig City History Museum. It’s one of the best of its kind in Germany, bringing the city’s many stories together, and explaining everything succinctly. It’s open Tuesdays to Sundays, and should not be missed.
Bach also had a strong connection with the Nikolaikirche Leipzig, a few minutes’ walk from the Thomaskirche and Bach Museum. He played there frequently, and the Thomanerchor also performed there regularly. The church exterior looks much as it did during Bach’s lifetime, but the interior was completely remodelled after his death, in a Baroque-Neoclassical style with pink pillars with palm frond-like capitals and a floral patterned vault.
Weekly prayer meetings that began in the church in 1982 gradually grew, then became the catalyst for mass demonstrations by September 1989. When authorities opted against using force and let a huge demonstration pass peacefully, the writing was on the (Berlin) wall – the GDR authorities relinquished power soon afterwards, and Germany was reunified the following year.
You can learn much more about the GDR in the Stasi Museum Leipzig, a 300-metre walk from the Thomaskirche on the Dittrchtring. The Runde Ecke was the headquarters of the local Stasi, the dreaded state secret police, and the building has been repurposed into a fascinating, piece-by-piece expose of the organization and their insidious methods. The building hasn’t been altered since becoming a Museum in 1990,
If you only have limited time in Leipzig – perhaps just a day trip -then check out my article One Day in Leipzig feature for suggestions on making the most of your time there.
Where To Stay In Leipzig
**** – Hotel Fregehaus – my favourite Leipzig hotel, beautifully designed and set in a gorgeous 16th-century townhouse with courtyard
**** – Brera Leipzig – aparthotel in historic building in great location between the Thomaskirche and Stasi Museum
*** – Motel One Leipzig Nikolaikirche – design hotel in superb location opposite the church where the protests that brought down the Communists began
How To Visit Thomaskirche Leipzig – Final Thoughts
I hope you’ve enjoyed this article on the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. It’s a must for aficionados of Bach and his music, and also one of the most historically significant churches in Germany, well worth a short visit.
For more ideas on where to go in Saxony and beyond, check out my guide to the best places to visit in eastern Germany, which covers the whole of the former GDR.
If you visit Leipzig, I also strongly recommend spending at least one day in Dresden, the historic capital of Saxony. Destroyed by Allied bombing in 1945 the ‘Florence on the Elbe’ has been mostly rebuilt, and the culmination of this was the completion of the stunning Frauenkirche, one of the most beautiful Baroque churches in Europe, in 2005.
Leipzig is also a great base for exploring western Saxony and the neighbouring states of Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. One of my favourite day trips from Leipzig is visiting Naumburg Cathedral, a World Heritage-listed late Romanesque and early Gothic masterpiece with one of the most famous medieval statues in Europe, the figure of Uta von Ballenstedt , one of the founders of the Cathedral.
I also recommend a short train trip north to Torgau, one of the best places to visit on the River Elbe. It’s home to one of the great Renaissance castles in Germany, and for World War Two buffs, the place where the US and Red Army met in April 1945, shortly before the last push to Berlin and the final capitulation of the Nazis.
Also to the north of Leipzig, lovers of medieval architecture should head to World Heritage-listed Quedlinburg. There are at least 2,000 medieval half-timbered houses in the town, which is also considered the cradle of modern Germany, as it’s where the first king of the East Franks, Heinrich I, was crowned in 919. There are easily enough things to do in Quedlinburg to warrant a stay of a night or two, and it’s amazing how few English-speaking visitors haven’t explored it yet.
To the west of Leipzig, Weimar is one of the great cultural cities of Germany, while Erfurt, capital of Thuringia, has a beautiful historic core, with the Kramerbrucke one of just four bridges in Europe with its original buildings still standing on either side. For more on these places and many more, take a look at my guide to the 15 best day trips from Leipzig.