Alte Handelsbörse

The Alte Handelsbörse stands beside Leipzig’s Old Town Hall, at the edge of the Naschmarkt. Leipzig’s merchants built this freestanding Baroque meeting house in 1678.

Thirty prominent merchants proposed a neutral place for business, auctions, information, and social events. Construction began in May 1678, and merchants used the building by 1679. The two-storey plastered facade combines Dutch and Italian Baroque elements through Ionic pilasters, festoons, sandstone, and statues. A double staircase leads visitors to the entrance. Two winged putti hold Leipzig’s coat of arms above the doorway, while Apollo and Mercury stand on the front. Minerva and Venus appear on the rear facade.

The Börsensaal occupied the upper floor, where merchants held auctions, balls, and other gatherings. An early merchant bank operated here from 1699. Fire destroyed the original interior in 1943, including Giovanni Simonetti’s stucco ceiling and seven allegorical paintings. Restoration renewed the exterior between 1955 and 1962. Later work restored the facade and windows in the seventeenth-century style during renovations in the 1990s.

The building forms part of the Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig collection. It hosts readings, concerts, exhibitions, lectures, presentations, receptions, and private celebrations. The Alte Handelsbörse remains Leipzig’s oldest surviving Baroque building and merchants’ assembly house.