ST. THOMAS CHURCH - LEIPZIG
Johann Sebastian Bach Grave and Mendelssohn
The St. Thomas Church (Thomaskirche) of Leipzig is a Gothic style Lutheran church in the center of the city’s old town, best known as the burial place of Baroque master composer Johann Sebastian Bach. He wrote and performed many of his compositions while living in the city and served as Choir Master (Kapellmeister) at St Thomas from 1723 until his death in 1750, where he taught at the Old Thomas School. The St Thomas Choir was founded in its days as a monastery and is one of the oldest and most famous boys' choirs in Germany and the world. It is headed by the Thomaskanter, a position held by Bach and many other well-known composers and musicians that followed. The house where Back lived and the old school on St Thomas Square are gone now, but commeorated with a plaque, next to the Bach Museum (See Bach Museum Leipzig)
There has been a church at the location of the St Thomas Church since the 12th century, but it didn’t acquire the name until about a hundred years later. In 1212 a Romanesque church construction became the abbey of the St Thomas Augustinian Monastery of Leipzig, when troubadour (minnesinger) Heinrich von Morungen bequeathed a relic of St Thomas to the order. The church was transformed into its current late Gothic style in a reconstruction in the 15th Century, consecrated by Thilo of Trotha the Bishop of Mersburg in 1496. The bell tower was built in 1537 and Protestant reformer Martin Luther preached in the church two years later on Pentacost Sunday of 1539. The present Gothic altar in the church was moved from the Paulinerkirche of the University of Leipzig in 1968 when it a destroyed by the Communist East German authorities.
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Gravesite in the Floor
The famous composer’s remains have been buried inside the St Thomas Church since 1950. At least they’re pretty sure it’s the composer. After his death on July 28 of 1750 following an illness, Bach was buried in the hospital cemetery of the Johanniskirche of Leipzig. Bach fell into rather modest obscurity for a while after his death until a revival of his popularity in the 19th Century led by another local Composer, Mendelssohn.
With his return to favor, an interest in the burial site of Bach was revived as well and in 1894 an anatomy professor was commissioned to identify his remains from a collection of disinterred bones from the common hospital cemetery. The anatomist, Wilhelm His, concluded that it was “very likely” the bones of an elderly man found in an oak coffin near the Johannes Church were the mortal remains of the composer. On July 16, 1900 the bones were encased in a stone sarcophagus and place under the Johanniskirche, but during World War II, the church was heavily damaged by the bombing of Leipzig on December 4, 1943. The sarcophagus and bones were moved to the St. Thomas Church and the current grave site in the heart of the sanctuary was dedicated on July 28, 1950, marking the 200th Anniversary of his death.
Bach and Mendelssohn Statues
A statue of Johann Sebastian Bach by the Leipzig sculptor Carl Seffner from 1908 stands next to the church. And a statue of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, who lived in Leipzig from 1835 until his death in 1847 and was a champion in the revived interest in Bach stands just outside the west entrance. The original statue by Werner Stein was erected in 1892, at the Orchestra Hall (Gewandhaus) where Mendelssohn had been the director of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, but the statue was removed by the Nazis in 1936 because of his Jewish heritage. The statue was recreated and placed next to the St Thomas Church on October 18 of 2008, on the 200th Anniversary of the romantic composer’s birthday.
Visiting St Thomas Church of Leipzig
The St. Thomas Church is open daily from 9 am to 6 pm. Visitors are allowed when services are not in session. Guided tours with a cost of 1€ per person are available by the staff of the St. Thomas Church by appointment.
Steeple Tours
Tours of the church steeple are offered weekends from April to the end of November. Tours begin at 1 pm, 2 pm and 4:30 pm on Saturdays and at 2 pm and 3 pm on Sundays.. Aside from a spectaucular voew of Leipzig, isitors can view the 500-year old Gothic roof truss of the St. Thomas Church. The entrance fee is 2€ per person; children under 12 years are free. Guided tours of the steeple for private groups are also available with advanced registration. © Bargain Travel EuropeFind best hotel and vacation deals in Leipzig on TripAdvisor
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See Also:
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