City in Flux: 800 Years of Leipzig’s Water History

11 March 2026–17 May 2026, Museum of City History Leipzig

How does water shape a city – and how does the city shape its water? The exhibition guides visitors through eight centuries of Leipzig’s water and landscape history. Using historical maps, technical equipment, archival documents and modern research, it demonstrates how closely Leipzig’s development is interwoven with its rivers. The focus is on the courses of the Pleiße, Elster and Parthe rivers and the profound interventions by humans: from the medieval development of mill races to early drinking water systems and technical innovations, and to conflicts over usage, pollution and flooding. Impressive cartographic works from the 16th–18th centuries bring the diversity and dynamism of Leipzig’s floodplain landscape to life.
At the same time, the exhibition examines the risks and environmental problems of the past – extreme flooding, poor hygiene, and the pollution of waterways by craft workshops. A separate section is dedicated to the emergence and evolution of scientific knowledge: sediment cores, microscope slides and modern analyses demonstrate how researchers today reconstruct river history and visualise environmental changes.
The exhibition combines urban history, the natural environment and science into a fascinating overall picture: Leipzig – a city in flux.

A studio exhibition by the Museum of City History Leipzig and the research project »Leipzig, city in a state of flux. Urban-fluvial symbiosis in a long-term perspective«, conducted by the Chairs of Early Modern History and Physical Geography at the University of Leipzig, as well as the department »Humans and Environment« of the GWZO.

The exhibition is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) as part of the Priority Programme 2361 »On the Way to the Fluvial Anthroposphere«.

Department »Humans and Environment«