Other Museums, Leipzig

The next time I visit Leipzig I definitely want to go to the new building of the Leipzig Museum of City History. The closest I got this time was when I took this picture from the roof of the City-Hochhaus.

This new building is where they have their special exhibitions, for instance one on the history of satirical cartoons, one on the writer Friedrich Schiller in Leipzig, one on the composer Richard Wagner in Leipzig, one on the Nazi genocide of the Sinti and Roma people ("gypsies"), and one on the history of referees at soccer games, called "Referee -- the 23rd man."

It is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00, and also on holidays except for December 24, 25 and 31. Admission costs EUR 3.00 (or EUR 2.00 if you get a reduction), which gets you in both to the new building and to their permanent exhibition of Leipzig history at the Old City Hall (Altes Rathaus).

Update: Actually there are two museums in this photo. The small pink building belongs to the Museum of City History, but the larger building behind it, with the blue stripes, is a new art museum called the Museum der Bildenden Künste, which I suppose would translate as Museum of the Visual Arts. Thanks to VT member german_eagle (Ingo) for pointing this out.

The Grassi-Museum was established by the rich Leipzig merchant Grassi (19th century), hence the name. It combines three different collections - musical instruments, an ethnological collection and a museum for applied arts. Plan in some time for a vist or try to see the museums on different days - otherwise you will be overwhelmed by the sheer size of the collections.

My favourite discvovery in the Ethnological Collection was an interactive display explaining the Chinese language, where I found out that the words for "to argue, to nag" or "betrayal" are based on the word for "woman". No kidding.

2 more images

The Coffe Baum is Leipzig’s oldest coffee house. The relief over the door presents a Turkish gentleman who is served a cup of coffee by his servant. The café has several rooms in different country styles which serve the matching specialities. The upper floors around the tiny inner courtyard contain the coffee museum (free entry).

I have read complaints about the service of the place. However, I found them really friendly – maybe because I brought my travel companion Russell the Wombat…

Tip 1: Bring a plush animal.
Tip 2: Try Kleckselkuchen which is a Saxon speciality, a cake with spots of three different toppings: cheese, cherry, and poppy seed. You get, so to say, three cakes in one and they are all yummy.

Where else could a coffee museum be but in the famous coffee house "Zum arabischen Coffe Baum". It's on the third floor of this old building, you have to go up some steep stairs, around corners and underneath low doors, and you find a wonderful exhibition about drinking coffee - with hundreds of cups and coffee grinders, the history, how coffee came to Europe, how the rich noble ladies of Saxony treated their admirers with coffee and what guys like Goether and Bach said about coffee in general and the coffee in Leipzig in particular. .

Free entrance and very entertaining and informative at the same time. Great little museum!

As mentioned in my Restaurant Tip - Coffe Baum is one of the oldest cafes in Europe which served Coffee. The house is a Baorque building with magnificent facade. The first restaurant was opened i 1692, the first coffee served in 1694. On the ground floor you find a restaurant, on the second floor the rooms of the cafe.

One floor higher a museum about the history of coffee is to see. In 16 small rooms a lot of historical stuff is showed.

The historical tram station in Leipzig's district of Moeckern is a living museum with an collection of trams of all epochs. Among historical cars a large number of components, aggregates and accessories is exhibited. A modell of a tram system is also present.