Leipzig, Berlin Study Tour
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Multi-day tours, designed to complement your academics and enhance your cultural immersion, are included in all of CIEE’s Open Campus Block programs!
SPRING BLOCK I - LEIPZIG
Today a city of approximately 540,000 people, Leipzig is the largest city in the state of Saxony and has a rich history reaching back nearly 1,000 years. For centuries, the merchant class (rather than nobility) was the dominant power in the city, which created a unique atmosphere among German cities – one defined by marketplaces, trade fairs, entrepreneurship and middle-class patronage rather than centralized power, pomp and aristocracy.
Leipzig boasts several famous “sons and daughters” of the city, such Martin Luther, Johann Sebastian Bach, Felix Mendelssohn and his sister Fanny Hensel, Clara & Robert Schumann, Richard Wagner, Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Keep your eyes and ears open over the weekend for the various ways these historical figures make their legacies known.
Leipzig also played a central role in the fall of the Iron Curtain, primarily through their famous Monday Demonstrations. Under the repressive socialist regime of East Germany (1949-1990), the St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig became a site of refuge for prayer and reflection, which eventually grew into vocal protest and peaceful demonstrations for the reunification of Germany. In the last decade, Leipzig has been growing increasingly popular with college students and young adults, developing the reputation for soon becoming “the new Berlin.” We look forward to exploring the multiple facets of this city with you and enriching your academic and cultural experiences!
FREE TIME SUGGESTIONS
Go to the Völkerschlachtdenkmal monument or visit the Museums in Grassi, or head over to Gondwanaland for the zoo and largest artificial tropical forest.
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