The following is a timeline of the history of the German city of Leipzig.
Prior to 18th century
5600 to 4900 BC - Linear Pottery culture, archaeological finds near Leipzig like the Linear Pottery Well Altscherbitz 920 AD - Emperor Henry the Fowler "built a castle here about 920." 1015 - Leipzig is mentioned in Thietmar's chronicle as Urbs Lipzi. 1082 - Leipzig sacked by forces of Vratislaus II of Bohemia. 1134 - Leipzig "came into the possession of Conrad, Margrave of Meissen". 1165 Leipzig granted market and city privileges. St. Nicholas Church built (approximate date). 1170 - Easter and Michaelmas fairs begin (approximate date). 1212 - Thomasschule zu Leipzig and Thomanerchor founded. 1231 - Klosterkirche St. Pauli built. 1409 - University of Leipzig founded. 1420 - Fire. 1458 - New year's fair begins, see also: Leipzig Christmas Market. 1479 - Printing press in operation. 1485 - Treaty of Leipzig. 1496 - St. Thomas Church consecrated. 1512 - 6 December (St. Nicholas Day), Old St Nicholas School (Alte Nikolaischule), Leipzig's first non-church secondary school, inaugurated. 1519 - June: Martin Luther and Andreas Karlstadt debate John Eck. 1530 - Auerbachs Keller built (approximate date). 1539 - "Leipsic formally espoused the Protestant cause." 1542 - Leipzig Botanical Garden first established. 1543 - Leipzig University Library established. 1547 City besieged by John Frederick I of Saxony. Pleissenburg re-built, replaced in 1905 by the New Town Hall. 1554 - Moritzbastei constructed. 1555 - Alte Waage built. 1556 - Old City Hall built. 1593 - Leipzig Calvinist storm: houses of wealthy Calvinist-minded merchants were stormed and plundered.
1631 1 September: Purchase of the Rosental. September: Battle of Breitenfeld (1631). 1642 - Battle of Breitenfeld (1642). 1650 - Einkommende Zeitungen (newspaper) begins publication. 1680 - Plague. 1681 - Weidmannsche Buchhandlung relocates to Leipzig. 1687 - Alte Handelsbörse (trade exchange) built, see also Leipzig merchant bourgeoisie. 1693 - Opera house opens. 1699 - Population: 15,653.
18th century 1701 - Oil-fuelled street lighting introduced. 1702 - Collegium Musicum founded. 1704 - Romanus House built. 1705 - Former mayor Franz Conrad Romanus arrested. 1706 - Polish Preaching Society established. 1710 - King Augustus II the Strong first presented Meissen porcelain at the local fair. 1716 - Sorbian Lusatian Preaching Society established. 1717 - What became Schillerhaus first built. 1723 Breitkopf publishing established. Johann Sebastian Bach begins as Kapellmeister (music director) at St. Thomas Church 1724 - Premiere performance of Bach's St John Passion. 1729 - Premiere of Bach's St Matthew Passion. 1731 - Zedler's Universal-Lexicon encyclopedia published. 1745 - City "taken by the Prussians." 1750 Death of Johann Sebastian Bach Kapellmeister of St. Thomas Church Barthels Hof built. 1755 - (municipal library) opens. 1756 Gohlis Palace (Gohliser Schlößchen) built.The Gohlis Palace (Gohliser Schlösschen), Website of the City of Leipzig City occupied by Prussian forces during the Seven Years' War. 1759 August: "Prussians withdraw from Leipzig." September: "Prussians recapture Leipzig." 1760 - October: "Prussians withdraw from Leipzig." 1764 - Academy of Visual Arts and founded.
1766 - Theater auf der Rannischen Bastei opens. 1768 - founded by Józef Aleksander Jabłonowski. 1777 - April: Premiere of Klinger's play Sturm und Drang. 1781 Gewandhaus built. Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra formed. 1784 City fortifications dismantled. Step by step the Promenadenring is created.Yvonne Horn, Walking the ring around Leipzig's history (2012) auf The traveling gardener.com (in English) Philological Society founded. 1785 - Augustusplatz laid out. 1789 - Linnean Society founded. 1790 - Observatory set up in Pleissenburg. 1797 - Population: 31,847. 1798 Tauchnitz publishers established. Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung (music magazine) begins publication.
19th century 1800 - Edition Peters and Leipzig Singakademie (chorus) established. 1801 - Population: 31,887. 1807 Friedrich Hofmeister Musikverlag (publisher) founded. (newspaper) begins publication. 1810 - Westermann Verlag founded.
1813 22 May: Richard Wagner born. October: Battle of Leipzig. 1824 Abolition of the Torgroschen (Gate penny) at the Leipzig City Gates. Execution of Johann Christian Woyzeck as the last one on the Markt. 1825 - formed. 1826 Consulate of the United States established. Wool market active. 1828 Reclam Verlag established. founded. 1829 - Medical Society founded. 1830 - "Political disturbance." 1831 November: Establishment of a committee to help Polish insurgents fleeing the Russian Partition of Poland after the unsuccessful Polish November Uprising. Collection of funds to help Poles, mainly among guilds and city guards. Flight of Polish insurgents from the Russian Partition of Poland to the Great Emigration through the city begins.Willaume, p. 186 1832 January: Mass escape of Polish insurgents from the Russian Partition of Poland through the city. January: Polish national hero Józef Bem expelled from the city by authorities fearful of stirring up a revolution.Willaume, pp. 187–188 July: The committee to help Poles officially closed, although its members continued their activities in the following years.Willaume, p. 191 1833 - Accession to the Zollverein. 1835 - Felix Mendelssohn becomes music director of Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. 1836 - Augusteum built. 1837 - (art association) established.
1839 - Leipzig–Dresden railway opened. 1842 - Leipzig Bayerischer Bahnhof built. 1843 Illustrirte Zeitung (newspaper) begins publication. Conservatory of Music founded. erected. 1844 - Museum of Antiquities of Leipzig University on display. 1846 1 July: Saxonian Academy of Sciences and Humanities founded. 29 August: Hôtel de Pologne fire. 1848 "Museum of Fine Arts" founded. Hôtel de Pologne rebuilt as the city's largest hotel. "Political disturbance." 1850 - Bach Gesellschaft organized. 1853 - Blüthner piano manufacturer in business. 1855 - Leipzig synagogue built on Gottschedstrasse. 1856 - Händel-Gesellschaft organized. 1858 - Municipal museum inaugurated. 1861 - Population: 78,495. 1863 Johannapark created.Johannapark, entry in Leipzig-Lexikon (in German) General German Workers' Association founded in Leipzig. Bridge blasting monument inaugurated, exactely 50 years after the Battle of Leipzig. 1864 25 June: First section of the Karl Heine Canal inaugurated. Schrebergärten (community garden) association formed. 1866 - Austro-Prussian War leads to Prussian occupation in 1866–67. 1868 - Opera house built. 1869 Leipzig Museum of Ethnography founded. Leipzig Alpine Club founded. 1872 Harrassowitz publishing firm established. Verlag Karl Baedeker relocates to Leipzig. Trams in Leipzig start. 1874 Museum of Arts and Crafts founded. Ernst Eulenburg (musical editions) established. Bibliographisches Institut relocates to Leipzig. 1878 Leipzig Zoo opens. "Leipzig is growing into an industrial town of the first rank." 1879 Reichsgericht headquartered in Leipzig. Südfriedhof established. 1880 - Population: 149,081.
1884 - Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei founded. 1885 June: Anglican All Saints' Church consecrated.Matthias Gretzschel, Hartmut Mai: Kirchen in Leipzig, Schriften des Leipziger Geschichtsvereins N.F./Bd. 2, Sax-Verlag, Beucha 1993, pp. 32 f. 1886 Georg Thieme Verlag established. and (stock exchange) built. 1889 - and become part of city. 1890 Eutritzsch, Gohlis, Neureudnitz, Neuschönefeld, Neustadt, Sellerhausen, Thonberg, and Volkmarsdorf become part of city. Population: 295,025. 1891 Leipzig University Library opens in relocation. Connewitz, , Lindenau, , Plagwitz, and Schleußig become part of city. 1892 becomes part of city. SSV Stötteritz football club founded. Mendelssohn monument erected.
1894 - Leipziger Volkszeitung (newspaper) begins publication. 1895 Reichsgericht (supreme court) established. built. Muster-Messe fair begins. Population: 399,995. 1897 - Sächsisch-Thüringische Industrie- und Gewerbeausstellung (Litt.: Saxon-Thuringian industrial and commercial exhibition) in Leipzig. 1898 - Handelshochschule Leipzig founded. 1900 - Population: 456,156.
20th century
1901 Städtisches Kaufhaus built. (publisher) in business. 1904 Bachfest begins. Leipzig Wildlife Park (Wildpark Leipzig) founded. 1905 Reudnitz, Volkmarsdorf, Gohlis, Eutritzsch were incorporated with the city. New Town Hall opens. The Old Town Hall is going to house the Museum of the History of the City of Leipzig. Population: 503,672. 1906 Naturkundemuseum Leipzig established. Leipzig Prison built. 1907 - Edeka founded at Hôtel de Pologne. 1908 - Rowohlt Verlag founded. 1912 - German National Library established. 1913 Kurt Wolff Verlag (publisher) in business. Monument to the Battle of the Nations erected. 19 October: "Deutsche Lebens-Rettungs-Gesellschaft (DLRG)" (German Life Saving Association) founded in Leipzig. 1914 - Mädler Arcade Gallery built. 1915 Leipzig Hauptbahnhof and Alfred-Kunze-Sportpark open. and Schönefeld become part of city. 1916 German National Library building opened. Institute for Newspaper Research (Institut für Zeitungskunde) was founded at the University of LeipzigTillack-Graf, Anne-Kathleen (2019), "Institute of Communication and Media Studies (University of Leipzig)". The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society. SAGE Publications. 1917 January: Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe (city transport company) formed. February: American Consulate closed. Its building became a temporary residence for Americans and Allied refugees from Serbia, Romania and Japan. Hôtel de Pologne closed. 1918
becomes mayor. Zeppelin Bridge completed. 1919 Church Music Institute founded. begins publication. Population: 604,397. 1920 - First technical trade fair on the Alte Messe site. 1921 Leipzig War Crimes Trials held. December: American Consulate reopened. 1922 , Leutzsch, , and become part of city. Bruno-Plache-Stadion opens. Goldmann (publisher) founded. 1923 1 January: Consulate of Poland opened. MDR Symphony Orchestra founded. 1927 - Leipzig/Halle Airport opened. 1928 1 August: Opening of the Kroch High-rise. Specks Hof completed. 1929 - Museum of Musical Instruments of the University of Leipzig opens. 1930 1 January: Europahaus as the second high rise of Leipzig opened. RundlingPeter Leonhardt, Moderne in Leipzig. Architektur und Städtebau 1918 bis 1933, Pro Leipzig, Leipzig 2007, ISBN 978-3-936508-29-1, pp. 52–54, in German and Krochsiedlung built. Abtnaundorf, Knautkleeberg, Schönau, and Thekla become part of city. 1933 - Population: 713,470. 1935 - becomes part of city. 1936 - and become part of city.
1938 Expulsion of Polish Jews by Nazi Germany. 1,300 Polish Jews sheltered in the Polish Consulate and saved from deportation. 9–10 November: Kristallnacht in Leipzig 1939 Leipzig Meuten dissolved by the Gestapo. September: Mass arrests of local Polish activists (see also Nazi crimes against the Polish nation). September: Polish Consulate seized by Germany during the invasion of Poland at the start of World War II. Confiscation of the Polish Consulate's library. 1941 - German-ordered closure of the American Consulate. 1942 - 23 June: Leipzig L-IV experiment accident is the first nuclear accident in history. 1943 6 March: Leipzig-Thekla subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp established. Over 1,800 men, mostly Soviet, Polish, French, Belgian and Czechoslovak, were held there as slave labour. December: Bombing of city by British. 1944 Bombing. 11 May: Leipzig-Engelsdorf subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp established. Over 250 men, mostly Polish, Russian, Czech and Ukrainian, were held there.