Leipzig is hosting a considerable number of museums with a focus on reserach and teaching. Particularly important are the Grassi Museum for Ethnology and the German Museum of Books and Writing. Moreover, the university is running four important museums, and the city of Leipzig is operating the Leipzig Natural History Museum and the School Museum.

The university collections are used to document and preserve the physical objects of research. They support the teaching by providing a tactile context for historical or abstract concepts, and by communicating overarching concepts in hands-on narratives. Regularly they are open for public audiences in guided tours and public events.

The Botanical Garden at Leipzig University is the oldest of its kind in Germany and can even be considered one of the oldest gardens in Europe along with Pisa, Padua and Florence. In its more than 450-year history, it has been relocated four times within the city limits of Leipzig. Since 1876 it resides at its current location in Linnéstraße. Today, the Botanical Garden, as a garden of diversity, is not only used for teaching and research, but also as a meeting place for the transfer of knowledge between the university and society.

The Zeitgeschichtliches Forum Leipzig (English: Forum of Contemporary History) is a venue of political-historic education, and one of four museums of the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland Foundation. The permanent exhibition Our History. Dictatorship and Democracy after 1945 takes visitors on a journey through history – from the years after the Second World War to life in former East Germany and today’s Federal Republic of Germany. Furthermore the forum presents special exhibitions on topics of relevance to the German civil society, and it offers a thriving cultural program with film exhibitions, talks, round-table discussions, and conferences.

The INSPIRATA is a non-profit association that has set itself the task of supporting mathematical and scientific education. This objective is realized in the format of a hands-on museum, where children of all ages can engage in exciting experiments. The museum also offers group tours and workshops for school classes, as well as other activities in the STEM subjects. In the permanent exhibition, which is always open on Saturdays for young and old, you too can rekindle your enthusiasm for the natural sciences.