Neues Rathaus

Neues Rathaus stands in Leipzig, opposite the Propsteikirche and beside the city’s ring road. Its light-grey Main-Franconian shelly limestone forms an irregular pentagon. Designed by Hugo Licht, the historicist complex rises from the former Pleißenburg site beside the Promenadenring. Two cross wings enclose three inner courtyards.

Leipzig’s city administration has occupied the building since 1905, after the old town hall became too small. Construction began with the foundation stone in 1899. Nearly 600 rooms occupy more than 10,000 square metres, while the main tower preserves the old fortress silhouette. That tower reaches over 114 metres. It ranks as Germany’s tallest city hall tower and carries 250 steps to an upper viewing passage. Inside, a grand staircase meets the historic council chamber.

At the southwestern tip, the Goerdeler Memorial recalls mayor Carl Friedrich Goerdeler and his resistance to Nazism. A bronze bell hangs in a five-metre-deep shaft. Quotations from his letters and writings surround the shaft, where Jenny Holzer and Mike Glier created the memorial. The facade clock bears “MORS CERTA, HORA INCERTA” beneath a female figure representing Truth.