Leipzig’s oldest church, St. Nicholas, was a focal point in 1989 for people protesting Communist oppression when 70,000 marched and a month later the Berlin Wall fell. For The Maui News/Jon Woodhouse

Editor’s note: Jon Woodhouse, who writes regular arts and entertainment articles for The Maui News, is currently traveling in Europe and writing about his journey along the way.

Located in the former German Democratic Republic, Leipzig’s extraordinary cultural heritage rivals the most celebrated European cities. Steeped in history, it was home to some of the world’s greatest composers from Johann Sebastian Bach to Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann.

Richard Wagner was born there, Goethe set a scene of his masterpiece “Faust” in the city, and German poet Friedrich Schiller wrote “Ode to Joy” in Leipzig, later adapted by Beethoven in his triumphant final movement of the “Ninth Symphony.” Tchaikovsky premiered one of his orchestral suites in the city and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart once improvised on the organ of the city’s St. Thomas Church. Hundreds of years later a peaceful protest in Leipzig precipitated the fall of the Berlin Wall.

This photograph shows the 1756 St. Thomas Church organ, which Bach and Mozart played. For The Maui News/Jon Woodhouse

A recent Lonely Planet article proclaimed, “Cultural Leipzig is ready to take over as Germany’s coolest city.” Thirty-five years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Leipzig has been called the New Berlin, and dubbed Little Paris, and the Venice of the North. Lonely Planet also suggested it was Germany’s Ultimate Travel Destination: “Leipzig really is hipper than Berlin.”

The largest city in Saxony, Leipzig has much to offer the visitor with many historic buildings like the 13th-century Thomaskirche (St. Thomas Church), where Protestant religion founder Martin Luther once preached and Bach was the director of music. You could celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Auerbachs Keller, the second oldest restaurant in Leipzig, which Luther frequented and Goethe visited while studying law and saw paintings of alchemist Johann Georg Faust, inspiring a scene in his epic play, “Faust: A Tragedy.”

Statue of Mephisto and Faust at second oldest restaurant in Leipzig where Goethe worked on his epic Faust play. For The Maui News/Jon Woodhouse

Every June, the city hosts Bachfest Leipzig, a festival attracting tourists from around the world, traditionally culminating in a performance of his “Mass in B minor” in the St. Thomas Church. While living in Leipzig, he composed great works like “Magnificat,” “St John Passion,” “St Matthew Passion,” and his final choral masterpiece, the “Mass in B minor.”

With awareness of climate change, the Bach Archive began planting the Johann Sebastian Bach Forest in 2020 in the south of the city, which will eventually encompass 129,000 trees.

While it was severely damaged in World War II, over the past 25 years, many Baroque, Renaissance and Art Nouveau structures have been carefully restored, adding to the city’s allure.

1746 Street scene in Leipzig old town. For The Maui News/Jon Woodhouse

There are glorious gardens, chic galleries, cafes and restaurants. The Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei industrial site, once home to one of the largest cotton mills in continental Europe, now houses restaurants and shops and studios for architects and artists. And the city’s zoo has Germany’s largest tropical rainforest, with around 500 plant and 200 animal species, from monkeys to Komodo dragons.

For nature lovers, the city’s Promenadenring Leipzig (Ring of promenades) is the oldest municipal landscape park in Germany. Completely surrounding the city center you can walk for two hours strolling along secluded paths, encountering green spaces, canals, and ponds and parks dotted with Linden and chestnut trees. Throughout the city flower beds line streets with dazzling arrays of colors.

Another attraction is the three-mile self-guided Leipzig Music Trail where you can explore the city’s rich musical heritage, encountering important historical sites relating to Bach, Mendelssohn and Wagner, with information in German and English at each station.

Not included, a reference to “The Flower of Hawaii,” an operetta by Paul Abraham that premiered in Leipzig in 1931. Set in Honolulu, it was inspired by the life of Queen Liliʻuokalani and the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy.

Besides its cultural importance, Leipzig played a significant role in the Peaceful Revolution collapse of the German Democratic Republic. Tired of tyranny, over 70,000 people peacefully gathered in Leipzig calling for freedom and democracy on the evening of Oct. 9, 1989. Chanting “We are the people!” and holding candles to show they were unarmed, with some carrying babies in their arms, the state security forces did not intervene. A month later the Berlin Wall fell. Every year on Oct. 9, the Leipzig Festival of Lights commemorates this pivotal moment.

Echoes of that dark time can be found at the Stasi Museum in the building which housed Leipzig’s former Ministry for State Security (Stasi) HQ. It displays sophisticated surveillance techniques, and how children were recruited to spy on parents and teachers.

And who could imagine finding a Beatles museum in the heart of the former Soviet-aligned German Democratic Republic, just down the road from Leipzig in Halle. It’s the world’s oldest, largest and most comprehensive public institution dedicated to the Beatles. The irony is East Germany officially banned their music in 1965, with authorities describing pop music as “filth from the West.”

Performance permits for the city’s rock groups were withdrawn as their performances “stand in opposition to our moral and ethical principles.” It led the Leipzig Beat Revolt youth revolt, which led to more crack downs.

Music journalist Rainer Moers amassed three floors in Halle dedicated to the Fab Four of 5,000 exhibit pieces with all manner of memorabilia. “We have not documented George Harrison’s time on Maui,” the museum’s Stefan Lorenz told me. “We would need a bigger house to exhibit solo Beatles.”

A statue of Bach sits outside St. Thomas Church. For The Maui News/Jon Woodhouse