Augustusplatz

Augustusplatz is an elongated rectangle with an area of ​​about 40,000 m² and is thus the largest city square in Leipzig. The streets of Goethestrasse ( German Goethestrasse ), the pedestrian Grimmaische Strasse ( German Grimmaische Strasse ), Grimmaischer Steinweg ( German Grimmaischer Steinweg ) and the Georgi Ring ( German Georgiring ) as part of Ring Ring Street go onto it. On the south side, August Square is adjoined by Kurt Masur Square ( German Kurt-Masur-Platz ) and Rossplatz ( German Rossplatz )

The boundaries of the square are formed: from the north - by the opera house, from the west - by the buildings of Commerzbank , "Kroh skyscraper" (with the University Institute of Egyptology with the Egyptian Museum and the Institute of the Ancient East), the former Bamberger & Hertz trading house and the university campus with the new university church of St. Paul and the “university skyscraper” City-Hochhaus , from the south - the building of the new Gewandhaus , and from the east - the skyscraper Europa-haus , the Radisson Blu hotel and the former main mail building.

The decoration of Augustus Square is made up of the Mende Fountain in front of the Gewandhuas Building and the so-called Opera Fountain in front of the Opera House. In addition, at the crossroads with Grimmaische Strasse, there is one of the monuments of the Peace Revolution - the Democracy Bell by Via Lewandowski.

The breakdown of the square according to the project of the city architect Johann Karl Friedrich Dauthe ( German: Johann Carl Friedrich Dauthe , 1746-1816) took place in 1785 after the demolition of old city fortifications, and was part of the project to equip the promenade surrounding the city.

The architectural formation of the square was initiated by the publisher and bookseller Benedict Gotthelf Teubner , who in 1821 built the first large representative building in the classic style at the intersection with Grimmaischer-Steinweg Street. On the other side of the street in 1835-1838, the main post building was erected by the city architect Albert Goitebrück ( German Albert Geutebrück , 1801-1868) according to the project of Voldemar German .

The reconstruction of the “inner”, city side of the square began after the demolition of the city gate ( German Grimmaisches Tor ) in 1831 and the subsequent foundation of Wilhelm Felsche ( German Wilhelm Felsche , 1798-1867) Cafe français on the model of Parisian coffee houses, quickly gaining fame as the best candy store of the city. At the same time, in the years 1831-1836, Goitebruck built a new university building (Augustinum) according to the sketches of Karl Friedrich Schinkel and rebuilt the facade of the university church of St. Paul.

In 1839, the square, which until then was simply called the square in front of the Grimmaus Gate ( German Platz vor dem Grimmaischen Tor ), got its modern name . Augustusplatz ( Augustus Square) - in honor of the first Saxon King Frederick Augustus I.

Since 1858, the southern border of Augustus Square was defined by the building of the City Museum (now the Museum of Fine Arts ), designed by Ludwig Lange in the style of the Italian Renaissance . Ten years later, in 1868, the New Theater designed by Karl Langhans was opened on the north side of the square.

In connection with the rapid growth of the city at the end of the 19th century, the buildings defining the appearance of the square were rebuilt in the then historicist style: in 1880-1886, the building of the City Museum was designed by Hugo Licht (in 1886, the undeveloped Mende fountain was opened in front of the museum), in 1881 —1884 - the building of the post office designed by August Kind, in 1892-1897 - the university building and the university church designed by Arved Rossbach, in 1910 - Cafè français (since 1914 - Cafè Felsche).

In 1901-1903, on the outside of the square, on the Ring, the so-called Dutch House ( German Niderländisches Haus ) was built - the only German project of Hendrick Petrus Berlage . At the end of the 1920s, the appearance of the square was supplemented by the first high-rise buildings of the city: the so-called Skyscraper Kroch ( German Krochhochhaus ) and, on the site adjacent to the Dutch house, the Europe house ( German Europahaus ), 43 and 56 meters high, respectively.

In World War II, as a result of the massive aerial bombardment of Leipzig on December 4, 1943, a significant part of the buildings on Augustusplatz was seriously damaged (Main University Building, New Theater, City Museum), or completely destroyed (Main Post Office building).

In the first post-war years, the main attention was paid to the restoration of industrial production, and only in the late 1950s - in the 1960s - after the adoption of a new master plan of the city ​​- on the square, which was named after Karl Marx , began construction work in 1945 to give Leipzig the character of the "socialist city". So, after the demolition of the ruins of the New Theater, in its place in 1960 the modern building of the Leipzig Opera was opened; in 1964, it was followed by the renovated building of the post office, in 1965 - the hotel is mute. Hotel Deutschland (since 1973 - Hotel am Ring). In 1977-1981 - first of all, thanks to the initiative of Kurt Mazur - the new Gewandhaus building was also erected.

Probably the most significant loss was the demolition in 1968 of the completely preserved university church of St. Paul built in the XIII century and the main building of the university damaged in the war, despite the protests of the townspeople and the district department for the protection of monuments. In their place until 1975, a new university complex was built, crowned by the so-called university skyscraper .

After the Peaceful Revolution of the square, its historical name Augustusplatz was returned, and in 1996-1998 it was completely reorganized, which was expressed, first of all, in the construction of a large underground parking with associated technical superstructures and in the planting of green spaces. On the occasion of the university’s 600th anniversary in 2009, it was also decided to restore the university church, important for the historical memory of Leipzig, which, however, led to fierce discussions about the possibilities of its future use. The Dutch architect Eric van Egeraat was able to win the announced international competition, offering modern means to remind of the buildings destroyed in 1968, but the consecration of the new university church - Paulinum - because of the technical difficulties of the project, took place only in December 2017.

• Thomas Topfstedt, Pit Lehmann (Hrsg.): Der Leipziger Augustusplatz. Funktionen und Gestaltwandel eines Großstadtplatzes. Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 1994, ISBN 3-929031-28-0 .