Field trip to the Exhibition – City in a state of flux. 800 Years of Leipzig's Water History

On April 29, 2026, we visited the exhibition City in a state of flux: 800 Years of Leipzig’s Water History at the Leipzig Museum of City History together with students of the Applied Landscape Ecology course.

Dr. Johannes Schmidt, one of the leaders of the underlying research project and a former interim professor at our Chair, provided a particularly vivid introduction to the exhibition by personally guiding the group through it.

The exhibition impressively highlights the interplay between urban development and water dynamics. The focus is on Leipzig’s waterways—the Pleiße, Weiße Elster, and Parthe—as well as the diverse anthropogenic interventions in these systems. Topics such as hydraulic engineering, water pollution, conflicts of use, and flooding are examined in detail. Historical maps, technical exhibits, and modern scientific methods illustrate the profound changes in the Elster-Pleiße floodplain landscape over several centuries.

The field trip was rounded off with a short walk along the Elstermühlgraben and the Parthe, during which further explanations were provided regarding the historical and current development of Leipzig’s waterways.

The excursion offered students valuable preparation for the upcoming fieldwork in the module while also providing insights into a multi-perspective research project at the intersection of urban history, landscape ecology, and fluvial geomorphology.

Special thanks go to Dr. Johannes Schmidt for the invitation to Leipzig, the extremely interesting and enriching tour, and the time he had for us.

• Leipzig City History Museum (Böttchergäßchen 3, 04109 Leipzig)
• Research Project: Leipzig, a City in Flux. Urban-Fluvial Symbiosis in a Long-Term Perspective

© L. Lang

© L. Lang