Station 01 - New Gewandhaus

The Neues Gewandhaus opened its doors to the public in October 1981. It is home to the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig (Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra), founded in 1743, which assumed its name on taking residence in the newly converted concert hall in the Gewandhaus ("Garment House", the guildhall of Leipzig's textile merchants) in 1781 (see Notenspur Station 21). The popularity of the concerts, and thus the demand for tickets, eventually exceeded the auditorium's capacity, necessitating the construction of a new hall, inaugurated in 1884 (see Notenbogen Station 03). This hall, also named Gewandhaus, sustained severe bomb damage during World War II; the postwar Gewandhaus concerts subsequently took place in the Congress Hall by the zoo.

The Neues Gewandhaus was the only concert hall to be built in the German Democratic Republic (former East Germany). The Orchestra's Music Director, Gewandhauskapellmeister Kurt Masur, initiated the campaign for its construction. The site on Augustusplatz chosen for the new hall was that of the former City Art Gallery, also destroyed in the Second World War.

Sighard Gille's striking ceiling mural in the foyer, Gesang vom Leben (Song of Life), the largest contemporary painting of its kind in Europe, forms the Gewandhaus's figurehead. Illuminated at night, it radiates through the glass façade onto Augustusplatz.

The Großer Saal (Great Hall) seats over 1,900 concertgoers. The hall's crowning glory is its organ, built by Schuke, boasting four manuals, 92 registers and a total of 6845 pipes. The organ's frontispiece proclaims the motto "Res severa verum gaudium" ("True pleasure is a serious affair"), the tenet that has accompanied the Gewandhaus since its establishment in 1781.

The Mendelssohn-Saal (Mendelssohn Hall) accommodates almost 500 people and, in addition to frequent chamber concerts, regularly plays host to conventions, symposia and other events.

Scale models of the three Gewandhaus buildings of 1781, 1884 and 1981, complete with accompanying text and illustrations are on exhibition in the main foyer, open on weekdays from 12pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 10am to 2pm.

Approximately 800 performances and events take place in the Gewandhaus each year, the most prestigious of which being the season of 70 concerts given by the Gewandhausorchester.

The Orchestra does, however, have two additional "workplaces" in Leipzig: the Oper Leipzig (Leipzig Opera) on the opposite side of Augustusplatz (Notenspur Station 10) and the Thomaskirche (Notenspur Station 17); in addition to staging the concert season in the Gewandhaus, the Gewandhausorchester is simultaneously the orchestra of the Oper Leipzig, as well as for the regular performances and services together with the Thomanerchor (St. Thomas Boys Choir) in the Thomaskirche.