Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall)
Martin-Luther-Ring
Leipzig, September 2024
“The New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus) is the seat of the Leipzig city administration since 1905. It stands in Leipzig's district Mitte within the Leipzig's "ring road" on the southwest corner opposite the newly built Propsteikirche. The main tower is, at 114.8 meters or 377 feet, the tallest city hall tower in Germany, ‘trumping Hamburg's previous record by a whole eight feet’. At the end of the 19th century, the Old Town Hall located at the Markt square 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 motto of his design was: ‘Arx nova surgit - a new castle emerges.’ The sculptor Georg Wrba was commissioned with the sculptural design of the building. The foundation stone of the New Town Hall was laid on 19 October 1899. The hall is notable as the location of numerous mass suicides during the final days of the Third Reich.” (New Town Hall, Wikipedia)
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