On my first full day in Leipzig, I headed out to go see the main site that made me want to visit Leipzig. The Monument to the Battle of the Nations (or Völkerschlachtdenkmal in German). This monument, built over 15 years from 1898 through 1913, is dedicated to the Battle of Leipzig (also known as the Battle of the Nations) in which the coalition of forces from Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Sweden defeated the forces of Napoleon and his allies in a massive battle between 16 and 19 October, 1813. It was largest battle in Europe ever until the World War 1 came along. As you can see the monument is being restored in time for the 200th anniversary of the battle in 2013.
I'm not much of history buff, or a military buff, but I had heard about this place from various people and web sites over the years and the people I talked to all said something along the lines "you have to see it for real to get the full impact" and things to that effect. And they were right. It's pretty jaw-dropping when you see it in person. This is a monument this actually a bit taller (91 meters/299 feet) than the famous Flatiron building in New York which was built around the same time (1902) and which is 22 stories tall.
There is a memorial chamber inside that has a lower area surrounded by warrior statues, and which opens above into a larger chamber that fills most of the dome. Inside that a four giant statues as well. None of my pictures of the inside were that great, so I won't show them here.
Also, I have to say that none of my pictures even come close to doing this place justice and it's actually worth doing a Google Image search for it to see some of the other fantastic pictures out there. Just a few of the ones I found that were really great are: this, this, this, this, and this.
The picture above is of the upper portion of the monument. That flat part below the outer statues is a balcony that wraps around the outer edge. You can either take some VERY narrow winding stairs (remember, this place is about the same size as a 25-30 story building), or luckily there is an elevator. I think there is an even higher platform at the very top there, but I will admit that I simply did not have the energy to keep going (no elevator).
The view from the platform is incredible. Looking north you see the reflecting pool and folks below. And you are looking towards the city center as well.
Looking off towards the west (and slightly south) was this building. I had no idea what this was, but with all the forest around it looked like an old monastery or something.
Zooming in a bit on my camera taking a closer look didn't necessary clear things up. So when I left the monument I walked around until I found an access and it turns out this is the main church and building for the old Leipzig cemetery. A large chunk of the surrounding area (that looks like forest from above) is actually the cemetery grounds. And yes, after my experience at the Frankfurt cemetery, I did go wandering around looking at the old statues, grave markers, and monuments.
While wandering around the next day I came across a residential neighborhood near a park I visited (pictures tomorrow) that was full of some old houses. Some of them had been beautifully restored (as far as I could tell from the outside). And a lot the others (and a number of the other older buidlings) were in the process of being restored, updated, and converted into apartments.
This is another of the old houses I came across.
This is some of the detail on an older building that is now an apartment building. I don't know if it always ways, but it did not look quite like a normal residence from it's design. But this is the sort of effort that seems to be going into the restoration in Leipzig. It's nice to see them going to so much trouble to retain and restore a lot of the old buildings.
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