3 . T H E S T .
T H O M A S
C H I R C H E
THOMASKIRCHHOF 18
The St . Thoma ' s Chirche dates back to the 12th
century . Here the University of Leipzig was founded
in 1409 . Between 1492 and 1496 it received the form
of a late Gothic hall church . Here , in 1539 , Martin
Luther preached the introduction of the
Reformation and here the St . Thomas Choir sang for
almost 800 years .
In the sanctuary and in the crossing of today ' s
Thomaskirche , excavations revealed the foundations
of a church from the period around 1160 - the time
when Margrave Otto of the kingdom of Meissen
granted the city and the castle suburb of Libzi the
city right . The Romanesque sanctuary of this church
was redesigned in 1355 gothic . In 1482 , the
Romanesque nave was abandoned and the building
of a late - Gothic hall church , which remains today ,
was erected . Except for the tower , which was given
its final appearance in 1702 , nothing has changed
since then in the architecture of St . Thomas ' s
Church .
However , the renovation of the years 1884 - 89
brought with it a striking intervention : The entire
equipment of the Baroque period - especially from
the time in which Johann Sebastian Bach at the
Thomaskirche ( 1723 - 1750 ) worked - was removed .
Since then , the interior of the church has been in
neo - Gothic style . The Mendelssohn portal attached
to the western front also dates from this period .
After the unification of the two German states in
1990 , the Thomaskirche was completely restored
and repaired . The works were largely completed on
the 250th anniversary of the death of Johann
Sebastian Bach on July 28 , 2000 . The St . Thomas
Church also received her new Bach organ . This is
how the Thomaskirche presents itself today : it is 76
m long , the length of the ship is 50 m , its width 25
m and its height 18 m . The roof has an unusually
steep inclination angle of 63 degrees . Inside it has
seven levels ( ridge height 45 m ). The tower is 68 m
high .