Leipzig Festival of Lights 2026
There will be another Leipzig Festival of Lights!
You will receive further information from summer 2026 on this website.
Leipzig Festival of Lights
Leipzig Festival of Lights 2025
With the Leipzig Festival of Lights, Leipzig commemorates every year on the 9ᵗʰ of October the Monday Demonstrations in Leipzig of autumn ’89, which led to the fall of the SED regime and paved the way for German Unity. Marking 35 years of German Unity, Leipzig used 9ᵗʰ of October 2025 as the occasion for a very special Festival of Lights: From 7 to 10 p.m., five light‑art projects by artists from eastern and western Germany created a light path along Neumarkt and in Schillerpark, inviting visitors to remember and reflect on autumn ’89. The light path guided visitors from St Nicolas Church, the starting point of the Peaceful Revolution, across Neumarkt to Wilhelm‑Leuschner‑Platz, the future site of the Leipzig Monument to Freedom and Unity.
In Schillerpark, the traditional candles' podium '89 was set up, which was illuminated over the course of the evening by thousands of tealights placed by Festival of Lights visitors. Candles were available free of charge at all candle and information stands in the city centre.
Again this year, the “Explore Leipzig – City Tours” app offered a Festival of Lights tour featuring all projects – also available as an audio version (Download iOS | Download Android)
Leipzig Festival of Lights
on the 9ᵗʰ of October
With the calls “We are the people” and “No violence”, 70,000 people gathered on the 9ᵗʰ of October 1989 to march around Leipzig’s inner city ring to demonstrate for freedom and democracy, thus paving the way towards the fall of the Berlin Wall and for the unity of Germany and Europe. The dramatic events of autumn 1989 still move people today.
The people of Leipzig keep this memory alive every year in many different ways, especially the commemoration of the 9ᵗʰ of October. At the centre of this day are the Prayer for Peace, the Speech on Democracy and the Leipzig Festival of Lights.
Collective Remembrance
Residents of Leipzig and visitors to the city come together at the original locations to remember the historical events. Exhibitions, panel discussions, film screenings, readings and many other formats attract thousands of visitors of all generations every year. The coordination of the numerous commemorative events has for many years been handled by the Initiative “Tag der Peaceful Revolution – Leipzig 9ᵗʰ of October 1989”. Its members include citizens, organisations, institutions, museums and other bodies with a direct connection to the autumn of 1989. The initiative is supported by the City of Leipzig.
The responsibility for the thematic focus of the celebrations marking the Peaceful Revolution and the accompanying programmes lies with the advisory board “Kuratorium Peaceful Revolution 1989”. The Leipzig Festival of Lights is organised by Leipzig Tourismus und Marketing GmbH.