Alter Johannisfriedhof (Old St. John's Cemetery), Leipzig

A historic Old St. John's Cemetery is the oldest burial ground in Leipzig. Established in 1278, originally as part of the Johannishospital (St. John's Hospital) for lepers, it was later attached to the Johanniskirche (St. John's Church), which was built in the 14th century and destroyed during World War II.

In 1536, by order of George, Duke of Saxony, the cemetery became a common graveyard and had since been expanded several times (in 1680, 1805 and finally between 1827 and 1863). It was also re-modeled, in the style of the Camposanto Monumentale ("monumental cemetery") in Pisa. The last burial here took place in 1883.

Over the centuries, the cemetery had served as the final resting place for many of Leipzig’s prominent musicians, composers and music publishers. In 1894, during reconstruction of the Johanniskirche nave, the remains of Johann Sebastian Bach were discovered, buried on 31 July 1750. Following the discovery, these, along with the bones of another prominent individual, Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, a German poet, one of the forerunners of the golden age of German literature, were placed in a vault beneath the church altar, in 1900.

Although the building itself was reduced to rubble by Allied bombing in 1943, the coffins of Bach and Gellert were undamaged. In 1949, Bach's remains were transferred to their present resting place in the Thomaskirche (while those of Gellert to the Paulinerkirche).

The graveyard itself has been a memorial park since the early 20th century. In 1981 it was temporarily closed and comprehensively cleared. In 1995, after thorough renovation, the Old St. John's Cemetery once again opened to the public, and is currently a protected monument.