The square is named after the former St. John's Hospital. Since the 13th century, the image of the Grimma suburb, which is more or less identical to today's St. John's Square, has been dominated by the hospital, chapel and cemetery of St. John. The Old St. John's Cemetery served as a general burial place for Leipzig residents from 1536 until the middle of the 19th century. St. John's Chapel became a burial church. After the walls around St. John's Church fell in 1850, the cemetery was separated from the church. When the old burial church was renovated in 1884, the bones of Johann Sebastian Bach were found when the south wall was demolished. In front of the church stood Schilling's Reformation Monument, which was inaugurated in 1883 on the occasion of Luther's 400th birthday. The bronze was melted down in 1943. In contrast to the nave, the tower of St. John's Church survived the Second World War, but was blown up in 1963 by decision of the city council, which caused great resentment among the population. On Johannisplatz, the new Grassi Museum, built in 1926, houses the Museum of Ethnology, the Museum of Arts and Crafts and the Musical Instrument Museum of the University of Leipzig.