The grounds of the old Cotton Mill are situated in Leipzig Plagwitz/Lindenau in the western part of town. In the 19th century the global demand for cotton was growing rapidly and Leipzig Cotton Mill, established in 1884, became the largest cotton mill in continental Europe by 1907. By then the company owned 240.000 spindles and employed about 1.600 workers. There were houses for the workers, gardens, a kindergarten, an own fire brigade, doctors, teachers, a training school, a bath and a park with gymnasium. It was like a city within the city! However, the two World Wars interrupted and damaged the economy enormously. Cotton imports declined and prices were extremely unstable. In the GDR the cotton mill kept on working regularly. Most workers were women and the factory again became an integrative and social place. Due to socialist production the economic profit was insignificant. After the wall came down, the cotton mill, like so many other east-German factories was sold and finally came down as well.

Since the 1990’s people have been looking for an alternative use of the old factory buildings – and they found it!

The old buildings and halls perfectly suit as ateliers for artists, painters, designers, architects. handicraft businesses, a dance school, gastronomy, arts, culture, individual shops have settled here and classy lofts have been built. More than 100 professional artists work here and show their work in several galleries and exhibitions.

There are regular tours where you can visit all the buildings and see the whole factory ground.

contact

Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei

Spinnereistrasse 7

04179 Leipzig