Leipzig - St Thomas's Church

(Local Name: Thomaskirche) Southwest of the Markt in Leipzig stands the Thomaskirche, home of the world-famed St Thomas's Choir. Originally built around 1212 as the church of an Augustinian house, it was much altered in later centuries. In the 15th C. it was given the form of a Late Gothic hall-church in the style of Upper Saxony. The west front dates from renovation work carried out between 1872 and 1889. Martin Luther preached in the church in 1539, and Johann Sebastian Bach was choirmaster from 1723 to 1750. His remains were brought here in 1950 from St John's Church which was destroyed during the Second World War.