Bronze monument to Johann Sebastian Bach

Initially, the monument was planned to be created for the 200th anniversary of Bach in 1885, but these projects acquired a real appearance only nine years later, in 1894, when the reconstruction of the Church of St. Paul. John’s tomb in the altar space was discovered.

However, this year the monument was not built: there was no money for its construction. In addition, the city authorities could not agree on the place of construction of the monument.

In 1901-1902, 5,000 gold marks were allocated for the construction of the monument from the legacy of the Leipzig merchant Franz Dominic Grassi. Grassi (1801-1880) left the city an inheritance of 2.327 million gold marks.

In 1906, it was decided that a monument to Bach would be erected near the church of St. Thomas. However, this place was a monument to Leibniz, which decided to move to the University Paulinerhof.

The monument was inaugurated on May 17, 1908. The total cost of its construction reached 50,000 gold marks. Half of this amount was contributed by the city, the other half by private donors.

The base of the monument with a height of 3.2 meters is made of shell. Bach’s bronze sculpture is 2.45 meters high. Bach is depicted standing in front of the organ, with a scroll of notes in his right hand. The statue was created by the Leipzig sculptor Karl Zeffner, the firm “Noack & Bruckner” cast it in bronze.