The renovation of Germany's oldest coffee house "Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum" in Leipzig is complete: After being closed for around six years, the restaurant and café are open to guests again under the new tenants Henrik Dantz and Sven Gerling. On three floors, guests can once again indulge in the coffee house tradition in the more than 400-year-old building, which has been renovated in line with its listed status. Work will also soon begin on setting up the revised exhibition of the City History Museum, which will be open to visitors from 1 July.
"The reopening of this historic inn has been long awaited by the citizens and guests of our city. Unfortunately, the completion of the construction work has been delayed for a variety of reasons. I am therefore all the more pleased that I can now hand over the restaurant rooms and kitchens to the experienced restaurateurs Henrik Dantz and Sven Gerling. I wish them and us a well-attended house at all times," says Mayor of Culture Dr. Skadi Jennicke.
"After a long period of planning and renovation in this beautiful historic house, we are very pleased that we were able to carry out a successful handover from the Cultural Office. We are aware of this responsible and challenging task of being able to continue the history of such a great house with such a long tradition. Many thanks once again to all those involved in the project and the tradesmen for carrying out this complex task. We are now finally looking forward to welcoming our guests and hope that we can meet their expectations," say tenants Dantz and Gerling.
After the last catering lease was terminated as planned, it became clear that the museum could not be reopened and catering could no longer be offered without repairing the building services. A large number of structural deficits and health and safety deficiencies were rectified. These include adjustments to the refrigeration, freezing and ventilation technology, improvements to fire protection and the organizational restructuring of the kitchen and social areas ("black and white separation"). The windows, doors and façade were also renovated and the historic floors refurbished. The costs on the city side amounted to around 3.8 million euros, of which the Free State of Saxony contributed one million euros from PMO funding. For their part, the new tenants also invested a considerable amount in new catering technology and furnishings.
The traditional "Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum" in the center of Leipzig is the oldest continuously open café-restaurant in Europe with an exhibition on coffee and its Saxon history. After the previous tenant ceased to run the restaurant at the end of 2018, an extensive partial refurbishment was carried out in stages from 2019, which was delayed several times due to supply bottlenecks caused by the coronavirus pandemic and unforeseen challenges with the building fabric. The original plan was to open last year, but the project ultimately stalled due to delays in the delivery of catering equipment. Following the building code approval at the end of March, the building is now back in the best possible condition.
City guide Marius Wittwer shows in post on his Instagram channel why this cultural and historical gem is actually the oldest preserved coffee house in the world and even older than the Café Procope in Paris (which is generally considered to be the oldest in Europe). He also explains why the Saxons have a special relationship with coffee and how this is said to have had an impact during the Seven Years' War under King Frederick II and his generals.
Source: screenshot Instagram Marius Wittwer
A look behind the scenes of the renovation and the result can be seen on the Instagram page of the "Coffe Baum".
Source: screenshot Instagram To the coffee tree
