Leipzig was first mentioned in a document in 1015. t is located at the intersection of two important medieval trade routes: Via Regina and Via Imperii. For centuries it was an important centre of trade and trade fairs. There still is the annual Leipziger Buchmesse (Leipzig Book Fair). Leipzig today is an important finance centre. The Leipzig university was founded in 1409. Both Johann Sebastian Bach and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy lived and worked in Leipzig. “Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum” was the first coffee house in Leipzig and also one of the oldest coffee houses in Europe. The relief above the entrance shows an Arabic man who passes a cup of coffee to a putto on the right side – symbolizing the gift of the coffee from the Orient to the Occident.