From April 2012 to May 2013, the 7,200 m2 (78,000 sq ft) large Richard-Wagner-Platz, which was then used as a parking lot, was redesigned after a design competition at a cost of 2.6 million euros.

On the same occasion, the Leipzig Richard Wagner Memorial was unveiled about 150 m (490 ft) southwest of Richard-Wagner-Platz in the green area at Goerdelerring.

In the 10th century, the place lay at the crossing of the Via Regia coming from Merseburg and leading further to Meissen to the Via Imperii, an imperial road, later Hainstrasse.

At the southern end of the eastern side of the square begins the Brühl, an old street which later became the world center for fur trade practised by mostly Jewish merchants.

In the north, the square remained limited by the Altes Theater, also the Komödienhaus, built in 1766 on the foundations of the Ranstädter Bastei.

[5] On 22 May 1913, the 100th birthday of composer and conductor Richard Wagner, born in Brühl 1, Theaterplatz was renamed Richard-Wagner-Platz.

(Today: Höfe am Brühl shopping mall) During the Second World War, on the night of December 3-4, 1943, a British air raid destroyed many surrounding buildings, including the Altes Theater.

The square is separated in its irregular form from the Goerdelerring and the Tröndlinring in the northwest by a narrow green area.