I've just returned from a visit to the Leipzig Bachfest (7-17 June). As usual there is lots to hear, to see and changes to note. The city is currently a mish-mash of architectural styles, an uneasy mix of the old, Stalinist and faceless and the very latest in chic and style. In amongst all of this are the sites we associate with Bach's lifetime, tall, solid and dependable - the Nikolaikirche in Nikolaistrasse just off the shopping arcades in the Grimmastrasse and the Thomaskirche in Thomaskirchhof off the Markt Platz and near to the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall). There is a profusion of cafés and eating places all around, to such an extent now that some of the famous monuments could go completely unnoticed - Goethe now has to look down upon a column of outdoor cafés for example and unless you know where to look, could be completely missed by the culture-vulture doing the grand tour of the city centre! Stark contrast indeed to the days of the old GDR.

However the city is not so much a building site for the sake of it, but more of one that is saying to the world "we are looking forward, inspired and encouraged by our cultural heritage". How this will all pan out remains to be seen. Only when the generations born after the fall of the GDR in 1989, or with no recollection of what life was like during those years, will the true character of the city emerge.

After 'the change' the citizens of Leipzig were consulted as to how they wanted their city to be repaired, rebuilt and represented. The 'Paulinerverein' was set up to ensure that the city wrote into its plans the restoration of the famous Leipzig University Church that was razed to the ground by the authorities in 1968 to make way for a new science block. After much lobbying and fund-raising to garner support for the idea, eventually the Saxony State Government in Dresden granted the funds to rebuild with the aim of completion by 2009, the 600th anniversary of the University's foundation. Unalloyed joy soon turned to deep despair when descent emerged and the plan was dropped....I believe a church will be built, but not a recreation of the original historic Paulinerkirche, where Bach's Cantata BWV 198 (Trauerode) was first performed in October 1727, and where Schumann, Brahms and Mendelssohn all conducted. Is this an example of any conflict of opinion that exists as to how the future should be shaped, I wonder?
MS