The Leipzig Trade Fair (German : Leipziger Messe) is a major trade fair, which traces its roots back for nearly a millennium. After the Second World War, Leipzig fell within the territory of East Germany, whereupon the Leipzig Trade Fair became one of the most important trade fairs of Comecon and was traditionally a meeting place for businessmen and politicians from both sides of the Iron Curtain. Since 1996, the fair has taken place on the Leipzig fairgrounds, located about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) north of the city centre.
The history of the Leipzig fairs goes back to the Middle Ages. A fair held at Leipzig is first mentioned in 1165. Otto the Rich, Margrave of Meissen presented the Leipzig fairs under protection. No other fair was allowed within a circle of a mile (7.5 km) away (Bannmeile).
In 1268, Margrave Theodoric of Landsberg assured all merchants travelers to Leipzig full protection for person and goods, even if their sovereign was at feud with him. This led to the settlement of numerous merchants in Leipzig. Trade goods now included herring, cloth, wine, and pepper.
Two annual fairs established in Leipzig, at Jubilate (third sunday after Easter) and Michaelis (29th of September). Frederick II of Saxony imparted in 1458 the privilege for a third fair in Leipzig, the New Year's Fair. German emperor Frederick III confirmed this fair in 1466 and 1469 by imperial privileges. That made the Leipzig merchant bourgeoisie grewing up.
In 1497, Maximilian I (from 1508 Emperor) confirmed all three Leipzig fairs (New Year, Jubilate, Michaelis) again and provided his seigneurial protection, including a ban of establishing more fairs in the neighboring dioceses of Magdeburg, Halberstadt, Meissen, Merseburg and Naumburg.
In 1507 Maximilian I banned any fairs within a 15-mile radius around Leipzig, which further increased the marketplace importance. The privilege also confirmed the staple right and extended the protection for the merchants on their way to the Leipzig fairs. Towns like Halle, Naumburg, Erfurt, and Magdeburg were now disadvantaged as marketplaces.
In 1523, the Augsburg merchant family Welser built a big house with shops at the Markt 8 (today's Barthels Hof), the rival Fuggers had factories as well.
In 1678–87, an exchange was built (Alte Handelsbörse, Naschmarkt, destroyed in 1943, rebuilt).
In the 18th century, Leipzig became the centre for trade with Russian, Polish and English goods. It was called 'the marketplace of all Europe'.
The importance of the fair, which drew merchants from across Europe, was the impetus for the construction of one of Europe's most significant Moorish Revival buildings, the 1855 Leipzig synagogue by architect Otto Simonson.
In 1895, the first commercial sample fair was held in Leipzig, dominated by exhibitors presenting samples of their goods. Between 1893 and 1938 a number of fair-houses (Messe-Häuser) were built in the center of Leipzig. They normally contained several interconnected courtyards with shops, storage areas, and living space (Mädlerpassage, Petershof, Handelshof, Specks Hof, Drei Könige etc.) Leipzig became the main German fair for books and consumer goods. The fair's MM symbol was designed by Erich Gruner in 1917.
In 1920 the technical fairground was opened in the southeast of the town, between Reudnitz and the Monument to the Battle of the Nations. It included 19 pavilions in 1940. Today this site is called Alte Messe Leipzig.
In 1937, Leipzig was renamed Reichsmessestadt Leipzig (Imperial Trade Fair City Leipzig) by the Nazis. [1]
Between the wars, the Ring-Messehaus and the Messehaus Bugra were built. During World War II, the area of the technical fair was used for military production and partly destroyed by bombs.
In 1946, the first postwar fair ('Peace fair') took place. When the GDR joined the RGW (Comecon) in 1950, the fair was used to present the production of East Germany's Warsaw Pact neighbours - not only to each other, but also to nations of the capitalist West. The technical fairground was rebuilt and contained more than 20 pavilions.
The fair played an important role in Cold War diplomacy between East Germany and the Western states, as it facilitated delegations from numerous major NATO powers, including the United States and United Kingdom. The Leipzig Trade Fair, during the period 1949 to 1989, served both propagandistic and economic functions in its attempts to organise visits from Western nations. Trade was instrumental to the SED's plans for East German recognition, with increased trade relations between the GDR and Westerners believed to be the key to Western governments re-evaluating East Germany's international status as a mere occupation zone the Soviets were yet to leave. [2] British delegations, often from the UK Labour Party and associated groups, were frequent during the late 1950s and early 1960s and included a variety of prominent politicians, including Anthony Greenwood, Ian Mikardo, and Clement Davies: many of those who attended would go on to campaign for official recognition of the German Democratic Republic until the early 1970s. [3]
The fair also played an important role in international politics during the crisis over the erection of the Berlin Wall. In August 1961, Willy Brandt (then Mayor of Berlin) called for an international boycott of the fair and a host of other East German functions in response to the Wall going up, which illustrates how the Leipzig Trade Fair was of great importance to the Cold War struggles over the legitimacy and recognition of the East German state. [4]
In 1996, a new trade fair ground was opened. The Congress Center Leipzig was also opened, built after designs by Gerkan, Marg and Partners. The old trade fair ground is used for shops, events, supermarkets, and figure skating events, although many areas are empty and unused. Today, the most important fairs are the Leipziger Buchmesse, PaintExpo and the Auto Mobil International.
The new Leipzig Trade Fair was built between 1995 and April 1996. The new fairground consists of six halls: five exhibition halls, which have a size of 20,000 square metres (220,000 sq ft), and the world's largest levitated glass hall, designed by Ian Ritchie Architects. The fairground has about 14,000 parking spaces and is accessible by tram, train, bus, or car.
Leipziger Messe GmbH was founded after the reunification of Germany on 13 June 1996. It is owned equally by Saxony and the city of Leipzig. The firm employs about 400 people, working in the parent company CCL and its subsidiaries. There are two people leading the Leipziger Messe GmbH: the CEO is Mr. Martin Buhl-Wagner and the CTO is Mr. Markus Geisenberger.
The subsidiaries are:
Leipziger Messe GmbH also has about 22 departments abroad, most of which are autonomous.
Leipzig is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the eighth-largest city in Germany and is part of the Central German Metropolitan Region. The name of the city is usually interpreted as a Slavic term meaning place of linden trees, in line with many other Slavic placenames in the region.
Colditz is a small town in the district of Leipzig, in Saxony, Germany. It is best known for Colditz Castle, the site of the Oflag IV-C POW camp for officers in World War II.
Naumburg is a town in the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. This UNESCO designation recognizes the processes that shaped the European continent during the High Middle Ages between 1000 and 1300: Christianization, the so-called "Landesausbau" and the dynamics of cultural exchange and transfer characteristic for this very period.
Messe Frankfurt is the world's largest trade fair, congress and event organizer with its own exhibition grounds. The organization has 2,500 employees at some 30 locations, generating annual sales of around €661 million. Its services include renting exhibition grounds, trade fair construction and marketing, personnel and food services.
The Hanover Fairground is an exhibition area in the Mittelfeld district of Hanover, Germany. Featuring 392,453 m² of covered indoor space, 58,000 m² of open-air space, 24 halls and pavilions, and a convention center with 35 function rooms, it is the largest exhibition ground in the world.
Theodoric I, called the Oppressed, was the Margrave of Meissen from 1198 until his death. He was the second son of Otto II, Margrave of Meissen and Hedwig of Brandenburg.
The Städtisches Kaufhaus in Leipzig, designed by the municipal architects Rayher, Korber and Müller in the style of Baroque Revival architecture, was constructed from 1894 to 1901.
Taucha is a town in the district of Nordsachsen, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Parthe, 10 km northeast of Leipzig.
The Games Convention (GC), sometimes called the Leipzig Games Convention, was an annual video game event held in Leipzig, Germany, first held in 2002. Besides video games, the event also covers Infotainment, Hardware, and Edutainment. Its concept was created by the Leipziger Messe in cooperation with Bundesverband für Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware amongst others. The 2010 Gamescon was held August 18 to August 22.
The Leipzig Book Fair is the second largest book fair in Germany after the Frankfurt Book Fair. The fair takes place annually over four days at the Leipzig Trade Fairground in the northern part of Leipzig, Saxony. It is the first large trade meeting of the year and as such it plays an important role in the market and is often where new publications are first presented.
Messe Freiburg is an event area and exhibition grounds in Freiburg im Breisgau.
Richard-Wagner-Platz is a square in Leipzig in the northwest of Leipzig city centre within Leipzig's "ring road" on the northwest corner. The square is named after the composer Richard Wagner, whose house of birth was nearby.
The Opernhaus vorm Salztor was an opera house in Naumburg, then Saxe-Zeitz, that opened in 1701. The house was built during the regency of Moritz Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Zeitz, on his behalf. In 1716, it burned down and was not rebuilt. In the 15 years of its existence, at least 14 different operas and one play were performed there. One of them survived, Johann David Heinichen's Der glückliche Liebeswechsel oder Paris und Helena, and was revived in 2012 in a concert performance.
The Alte Handelsbörse or Alte Börse in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany, is the city's oldest assembly building of merchants, and also the oldest Baroque building. Built as the Börse in 1678, it is now used as an event venue and is known in English as the Old Stock Exchange.
The history of the architecture of Leipzig extends from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. Numerous typical buildings and valuable cultural monuments from different eras are still preserved or have been rebuilt. Leipzig, Germany, begins its architectural history with several buildings in the Romanesque style. An example of Gothic architecture in Leipzig is the late Gothic hall vault of the Thomaskirche (1482/1496). In the early modern period, the Old Town Hall was expanded in the Renaissance style. The city experienced the peak of urban design and artistic development from around 1870 to 1914 with historicism, Reformarchitektur and Art Nouveau. Numerous trade fair palaces, commercial buildings, representative buildings such as the Imperial Court Building and the new town hall and the arcade galleries known for the city were built. After the First World War, Leipzig became known for its neoclassicism. During the air raids on Leipzig in World War II, large parts of the city center, which was rich in historic buildings, were destroyed. This was followed in the post-war period by (socialist) neoclassicism and modernism.
Alte Messe Leipzig is the circa 50 hectares site in the southeastern part of Leipzig's district Mitte, where from 1920 until 1991 the technical exhibitions of the Leipzig Trade Fair took place, as well as the buildings that stand on it – but not the trade fair itself, which found a new home at a new site in the northern part of Leipzig. Since 1996 there has been no trade fair activity on the old site.
Petersstrasse is one of the oldest streets in Leipzig's district of Mitte. For centuries it was a main and commercial street for the Leipzig trade fair with exhibition houses, inns and shops. In the second half of the 19th century, many of the old buildings on the street fell victim to the modernization of the city center. Today it is a heavily frequented pedestrian zone in a prime location with shopping centers, department stores, shops, restaurants and cinemas.
The Alte Waage, in English: Old Weigh House, is a building that stands on the north side of the Markt of the German city of Leipzig, on the corner with Katharinenstrasse. Originally, it was built in 1555 under the direction of the mayor and builder Hieronymus Lotter (1497–1580) and the executive master builder Paul Speck. It is an example of the Saxon Renaissance.
Specks Hof is a commercial building with the oldest preserved shopping arcade in Leipzig, Germany. The complex near St. Nicholas Church is an example of Leipzig's trade fair and trading buildings, which were built at the beginning of the 20th century.
The concept of the sample fair was invented in 1895 in Leipzig, Germany. At the Leipzig Trade Fair the traditional goods fair was replaced with sample shows. The sample fairs are the usual type of trade fair today, which is facing another paradigm shift due to the digital transformation, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.