Town Hall Leipzig
A Leipzig town hall was first mentioned in a document in 1360. The old town hall was built in the middle of the 16th century. When the town hall became too small to accommodate the needs of the fast-growing city they decided to build a new one. In 1895 Leipzig was granted the right to build a new town hall and they received the site of the Pleißenburg by the king of Saxony.
Since 1905 the new town hall has been the seat of Leipzig city’s administration. It has the tallest city hall tower in Germany standing at 114,8m. 417 steps lead up to a platform where visitors can enjoy a fantastic view of Leipzig. A competition was held to determine who would get the chance to design the new town hall – the only specification was that the Rapunzel tower silhouette had to be included in the design.
The foundation stone was laid on October 19th in 1899 and was finished six years later. The new town hall represents the style of historicism and was built by Hugo Licht. The façade of the building shows many mythical creatures and animals – the door handles of the main entrance are decorated with snails to remind the officials inside to work faster.
The inauguration of the new town hall took place on October 7th 1905 with the king of Saxony, Friedrich August III, present. The city of Leipzig decided to keep the old town hall and use it as a museum after it was renovated.
to mention (ˈmen(t)ʃən) – etw erwähnen
l-title=””>ˈkɒmədeɪt) – etw unterbringen
to grant (grɑ:nt) – etw gewähren, bewilligehn
to receive (rɪˈsi:v) – etw erhalten, bekommen
site (saɪt) – der Ort, der Platz
to determine (dɪˈtɜ:mɪn) –
specification (ˌspesɪfɪˈkeɪʃən) – die Angabe, Vorgabe
foundation stone (ˌfaʊnˈdeɪʃən stəʊn) – der Grundstein
door handle (dɔ:ʳ ˈhændl̩) – der Türgriff
main entrance (meɪn ˈentrən(t)s) – der Haupteingang
snail (sneɪl) – die Schnecke
inauguration (ɪˌnɔ:gjəˈreɪʃən) – die Eröffnung, Einweihung