The city and parish church of St. Nikolai was built in 1165 in Romanesque style after the city and market rights were granted to Leipzig. The Romanesque origin can still be seen on the west side of the church. In the 15th and 16th centuries, extensions and the complete conversion to the three-nave late Gothic hall church took place.
In 1452 the Nikolaikirche received its first bell with the Osanna, decorated by Nikolaus Eisenberg with depictions of the crucified Jesus and the four Evangelists, St. Martin and the patron saint of this church, St. Nicholas. The bell not only started the church services, but was also used as a fire bell. The almost 6 t heavy Osanna hanging in the south tower was lost due to melting in the First World War.
On May 25, 1539 the sermons of the reformers Justus Jonas the Elder and Martin Luther started the Reformation in Leipzig. The church became the seat of the first superintendent of the city of Johann Pfeffinger.
In the Nikolaikirche, Johann Sebastian Bach performed many of his cantatas and oratorios for the first time with the St. Thomas Choir, including the St. John Passion, his most extensive work to date, on Good Friday, April 7, 1724.