Day of Arrival
Wednesday, August 10, 2005, Leipzig

In August 2005, youths from all over the world joined in Germany to celebrate the XX World Youth Day. During the Days of Encounter in the week before before the main festival in Cologne, the groups stayed in parishes throughout Germany. In and around Leipzig, Catholic and Lutheran parishes hosted about 500 pilgrims from 19 countries.

Touristic Day
Thursday, August 11, 2005, Leipzig

On Thursday, the visitors got to explore the city on their own and in guided tours. In the evening, everybody gathered at the main stage in the St. Nikolai churchyard where bands from the Leipzig area (such as King Kreole and Sequoia shown below) appeared. The day closed with an evening prayer and organ concert in St. Nikolai Church.

Day of Social Commitment
Friday, August 12, 2005, Leipzig

On Friday, the international pilgrims were introduced to and took part in social, ecological and development projects in the parishes' neighbourhood. For example, one group painted part of the hoarding around Leipzig's City Tunnel construction site. Part of the evening programme (such as Caminho's performance shown below) was spontaneously moved into St. Nikolai Church due to rainstorms outside. Undisturbed, people were soon dancing in the aisles to Tanzanian rhythms.

2005/08/13-15 >