The St. Nicholas Church has long been one of the most famous in Leipzig, and rose to national fame in 1989 with the Monday Demonstrations when it became the centre of peaceful revolt against communist rule.
The church was built around 1165. It is named after St. Nicholas. It is built partially in the Romanesque style but was extended and enlarged in the early 16th century with a more Gothic style. In 1794 the interior was remodeled by German architect Johann Carl Friedrich Dauthe in the neoclassical style.
The church has been a Protestant seat since 1539 after the Protestant Reformation, but the Catholic Church is allowed to use it too. Martin Luther preached here in 1539, and Johann Sebastian Bach was the church's choirmaster from 1723 to 1750.