The Alte Handelsbörse (Old Exchange) is a compact Baroque building on Naschmarkt, built in 1678 as Leipzig's first purpose-built exchange for international merchants. It is the oldest Baroque building in the city. The ground floor once housed the actual trading, with merchants doing business in the arcaded hall; today the building hosts concerts and events.
In front of the exchange stands a youthful Goethe, arm raised, looking over the square — a memorial to the fact that he studied law at Leipzig University from 1765 to 1768 and used Auerbachs Keller nearby as the setting for a key scene in Faust. The ensemble of Naschmarkt, Alte Börse, and the surrounding arcaded courtyards gives a good sense of what Leipzig's trading quarter looked like in its 17th-century heyday.