Discover History

The Morgenleite district takes its name from a hill that greets the rising morning sun. The last part of its name, “-leite”, comes from the Old High German word (h)lita and means “slope” or “hill”. The word “Morgen”, meaning “morning”, was added because the slope descends to the east, towards the morning sun. Here, the district reveals the two opposing faces of its urban development: many residents associate Morgenleite with the area of forest to the north of Wladimir-Sagorski-Strasse, extending as far as the Südring. However, the six- and eleven-storey housing development to the south of Sagorski-Strasse also bears this name. Just a few steps from this column is a bronze plaque marking the geographical centre of the Fritz Heckert residential district.

Morgenleite is located in the heart of this district, which was once an area of new urban development characterised by Plattenbauten – buildings constructed from prefabricated concrete slabs. This was not always the case. During the city’s industrialisation, wealthy Chemnitz manufacturers and entrepreneurs appreciated the advantages of this ridge because the wind usually blows from here towards the factories and chimneys of Altchemnitz. Their smoke therefore seldom carried odours or soot to Morgenleite, so it is no wonder that magnificent villas were built here at the beginning of the 20th century.

North of what is now Wladimir-Sagorski-Strasse, the district has retained the original, natural character of the historical Morgenleite. The old forests, ponds and meadows have largely been preserved to this day, although there was already a plan to develop this area into a cultural and social centre when construction began in the Fritz Heckert district in 1974. The idea was that the 92,000 residents from the various districts of what was once the third-largest new housing development in East Germany would meet here. In addition to a shopping centre, there were plans to build a circular cinema, a 19-storey hotel, a Siberian restaurant and a Konsument department store. The construction of 2,850 apartments for 7,700 residents was also envisaged. However, a large number of small watercourses and springs run through the area. While it would have been possible to develop the land, this would have been costly and required large quantities of materials, which is why the construction work on the site was repeatedly postponed. German reunification put an end to these ambitious plans – at least temporarily. Construction conditions to the south of Wladimir-Sagorski-Strasse proved to be more favourable.

From 1978, more than 4,100 apartments for 12,200 residents were built in what was called Construction Area V. At over 480 metres long and with 17 entrances and 700 apartments, this was also one of the longest housing blocks in East Germany and affectionately known as the “city wall”. The unbuilt cultural centre represented a noticeable deficit in the district’s planning. On the one hand, the urban connection between the northern and southern parts of the district was missing, and on the other hand, there was a lack of attractive recreational and retail facilities.

In the 1990s, city planners and investors revisited the former plans for a shopping centre here, aiming to realise them under new auspices. The steep slope demanded a lot from the planners, but they recognised the opportunity for a unique and unmistakable design. The foundation stone was laid in 1997 following lengthy consultation between the stakeholders involved. The opening of the Vita-Center in 1999 took place in the presence of the then Minister President of Saxony, Kurt Biedenkopf, and Mayor Peter Seifert. Over 300,000 visitors came on the opening weekend. Traffic was gridlocked on the surrounding streets and car parks. The two striking glass-domed towers of the shopping centre have now become a local landmark. Its opening just before the turn of the millennium finally gave the Fritz-Heckert residential district a cultural and social centre after more than twenty years’ planning.