Initially it was created on an area of 54 hectares under the direction of horticultural director of Leipzig, Otto Wittenberg and the architect Hugh Licht.

With the rapid development of the city during its industrialisation, incorporation of nearby settlements and the consequent steady population growth, a new cemetery was needed.

After the opening of Nordfriedhof (North Cemetery) firstly in 1881, the Southern-Cemetery was inaugurated on 1 June 1886 by the mayor of Leipzig, Dr. Otto Georgi and the governor Dr. H. A. Platzmann, and later the burial ground was consecrated by the Lutheran provost Superintendent Wilhelm Hölscher.

Many citizens of Leipzig chose to be buried at the Neuer Johannisfriedhof (New St. John's Cemetery) but this changed when it began to fill up and the trees on the Südfriedhof became greater and the proposed park character was recognisable.

The symmetrical complex of chapel facilities, crematorium and columbarium blends inconspicuously into the overall picture and is justified to the main north–south axis of the cemetery.