Leipzig, Germany

Leipzig sits on the Weiße Elster and Pleiße rivers in Saxony, Germany, with roughly 600,000 residents and a history first documented in 1015. Its 1409 Leipzig University trained Leibniz, Goethe, and Wagner, while the 1551 Leipzig Trade Fair, the oldest in Germany, earned the city its "Messstadt" nickname. Johann Sebastian Bach served as Thomaskantor at the 1212 Saint Thomas Church from 1723 until his death in 1750. The 1813 Battle of Leipzig drew 500,000 troops and left 92,000 dead as the largest pre-WWI European battle, and the 1989 Monday Demonstrations at the 1160 Saint Nicholas Church helped bring down the GDR.