Page 55 - BSAM 2016 Q4

By Gudrun Benz, Germany TPhotos by Gudrun Benz
he Saxon city of Leipzig is a place with a great history where tradition meets dynamism. Stately homes, historic arcades, Gothic, Renaissance, Wilhelminian and modern buildings tell more than 1,000
years of history in the square of just one square kilometer of the city centre. It is a city of trade, of music, of art, of culture. Famous composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Felix Mendelsohn Bartholdy, Richard Wagner, Robert Schumann, Edvard Grieg, Albert Lortzing, Gustav Mahler lived and worked here. Leipzig’s Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Opera and St. omas Boys Choir are one of the world’s top ensembles and boast a rich history. e famous poet Goethe studied at the University of Leipzig, founded in 1409 and therefore one of the oldest universities in Europe. Art and culture, with lots of museums and art galleries, blend with high-tech business. Leipzig was, and even is today, a city of trade fairs (book fair, Automobile International, Games Convention...). erefore Leipzig is always worth a visit.
is year’s exhibition of the Bonsai Club Germany and the German Suiseki Society added an attraction to the city’s activities for the rst time and gave evidence of the fast growing bonsai culture and art in the former communist state in East Germany in the last 25 years. More than 100 bonsai and about 20 suiseki were on display. Although the exhibition area was located a little bit outside of the city centre it was well attended, mainly on Saturday. Visitors enjoyed the beautifully
Top left; View into the exhibition
Upper inset; Old City Hall – a most impressive
Renaissance building, built in 1556/57.
Lower inset; St. Nikolai Church – famous for the slogan “We are the people” and “No violence” which was chanted by 70,000 demonstrators in the streets in 1989 for freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of travel.
The four participants of the New Talent Contest (NTC) 2016
Middle left; Michael Raab, Bottom left; Achim Hochstein, Middle right; Manuel Flammann,
Bottom right; The winner, René Alber, will take part in the next year’s European NTC during the Noelanders Trophy in Belgium at the beginning of February 2017.
October/November/December 2016 | BCI | 53