- Year 1904.
- 2,000 seats.
1904 Concert Leipzig 28-11-1904 – Symphony No. 3.
Also: Congres hall, Leipzig Zoo, Tiergarten.
The exclusive Assembly House at the zoological gardens was opened in September 1900 and soon became a major venue for civic receptions and parties as well for assemblies of professional and other associations. Up until 1914, more than 100 concerts took place here every year and numerous conferences, meetings, political assemblies, club festivals, theatrical performances and parties were held. The first use of the building for a trade fair marked a rental agreement with the Technische Messe company in 1919. After the First World War, business revived once again in the Twenties and Thirties and survived, in spite of unbending interference from the Nazi regime until April 1945.
Built in 1900, the Kongresshalle am Zoo Leipzig now appears in its new splendour after an extensive and elaborate renovation. It is unique in being immediately next door to the zoological garden. The scientific topics presented at Zoo Leipzig: offer numerous points of contact for conferences and congresses. The historic building, with its exciting architecture was constructed in the Gründerzeit era and combines historical and contemporary elements in a uniquely elegant atmosphere. 15 halls and rooms offer space for congresses of all kinds. The building complex boasts an ideal infrastructure and the very latest in state-of-the-art conference and media technology. The Congress Center Leipzig is responsible for running the kongresshalle, and brings to it decades of experience of the sector as well as a highly efficient service network.
The Leipzig zoo was founded in 1876 by the entrepreneur Ernst Pinkert. Pinkert was a friend of the Hamburger zoo director and probably best known organiser of anthropological exhibitions, Carl Hagenbeck. It thus comes as no surprise that already in the year of the opening, people were being exhibited alongside alligators and turtles. Those deemed worth to be looked at were naturally not Saxons, Bavarians or French but for the large part representatives from the colonised societies.
Between raptor pavilion and seal basin, the zoo director set up a special »Völkerwiese« for the display of humans. The adjoining building built later and fitted with a stage in jungle setting where exhibitions took place as well, was in vernacular called »Hotel zum wilden Mann«. Untill the last show in 1931 there have taken place about 40 »Völkerschauen«. As such the Leipzig zoo was after Hamburg and Berlin one of most important locations for »Völkerschauen« in Germany.
