Leipziger Buchmesse in Zahlen Leipzig Book Fair in figures

The City of Leipzig
nean pipes. Yes indeed, Saxony is really by the sea a feeling best experi-
enced by a visit to the yacht marina on the Cospuden Lake (Cospudener
See). East and West, high culture and subculture, old and young mingle in
Leipzig. The city is full of surprises – not least because of its many 19th
century Gründerzeit buildings, the passages, parks and canals and the
brick fortress-like walls of redundant factories behind which artists and
new enterprises have now taken up residence. It is the people, with their
inquisitiveness and openness, that make life for visitors so easy and
immediately put them at their ease. Leipzig provides a venue which ena-
bles one to travel back and forth between cultural extremes in an inti-
mate city environment. The new in Leipzig is always that which has been
rebuilt or reconstructed. And when Leipzigers reflect on the past, their
eyes are already turned towards tomorrow.
This city has its grimy nooks and magnificent buildings, and its dynamic
artistic, musical and literary scene simple beckons one on a voyage of
discovery. In the classic style, with the Thomaner boys’ choir, Gewand-
haus concert hall and Neo Rauch. Or off the beaten tourist track, in clubs
with attractive-sounding names like Paris Syndrom and Noch Besser
Leben (Live Even Better). Probably the best time to experience Leipzig
and its attractions is during the four days of the Book Fair in March.
A time of great excitement, something of a fifth season in the year where
natives and guests, freaks and international celebrities are practically
indistinguishable. Where the tables are pushed together in Café Grund-
mann, despite the protests of the waiter. Where sleep is unthinkable and
Leipzig illuminates.
Barfussgässchen
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