This small city was once home to Goethe, Schiller, Cranach the Elder, Herder, Gropius, Nietszche, Bach, Liszt, Hummel, Wieland, Schweitzer, and Hans Christian Andersen, among others. It's easily enjoyed on foot, with clean open plazas, cobblestone streets, and affordable public transportation. I found it charming as I walked in the footsteps of so many esteemed lights of German art, history, architecture, music and philosophy.
It's also home to the Thuringer styled sausage, or Rostbratwurst.
Next door to the famous Hotel Elephant is the Black Bear restaurant, where one can try a local specialty, venison. Thuringia was once known for its forest lands and its black bears.
The Hotel Elephant, designed by Hermann Giesler and built in 1938 on the site of a hotel that had been there at least since 1696, though records indicate a structure mentioned as far back as 1561. Now a four-star hotel with 170 beds, it's the setting for most of Thomas Mann's 1939 novel Lotte in Weimar.
Guests have included Mendelssohn, Liszt, Wagner, Rubinstein, the 19th Century poet and playwright Franz Grillparzer. Adolf Hitler, who visited Weimar more than forty times prior to 1933, would stand on the hotel balcony and give speeches to the crowds gathered below in Market Square.
The Cranach House, above, residence during the last years of Lucas Cranach the Elder who died in 1553.
Above is the Stadthaus, or Town House, built between 1526 and 1547. It was damaged by bombs in Allied campaigns during World War Two, and rebuilt between 1968 and 1971.
This above is the White Swan restaurant located next to Goethe's Wohnhaus on the Frauenplan, now a museum. The history of the White Swan goes back more than 450 years.
In a letter dated 1827, Goethe wrote: "The Swan welcomes everyone warmly and with open wings."
Goethe dined here often. Here is a Trip Advisor link: https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g187426-d1355663-Reviews-or20-Gasthaus_Zum_weissen_Schwan-Weimar_Thuringia.html
Above is the entrance to Goethe's Wohnhaus, now the Goethe National Museum.
The Goethe Wohnhaus photo below is by Alexander Burzik.
Here is a link to the museum: https://www.klassik-stiftung.de/goethe-nationalmuseum/goethes-wohnhaus/
Here above is Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) next to Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805), in bronze, Germany's first "double statue." It was created by Ernst Rietschel.
Goethe moved to Weimar in 1775. He was 26, and he worked in the court of the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, the 18-year-old Carl August, son of Anna Amalia. Five years earlier he had, by happenstance, met the German philosopher and writer Johann Gottfried Herder while visiting Strasbourg. It was Herder who inspired him to develop his own style of writing. In 1782, enobled, he became "von Goethe" instead of simply "Goethe."
Schiller first arrived in Weimar in 1787. Two years later he was named Professor of History and Philosophy at the top university in Jena, a city nearby. In 1799, he returned to Weimar, and to the writing of plays. He and Goethe developed what could be deemed not only a professional and literary-based relationship, but a personal one, a friendship, as they encouraged and inspired each other to improve their writing.
For devotees of classicism, this statue of Goethe and Schiller is a must-see, and it's visited by thousands annually. Note the laurel wreath both men are holding. Here is a link to some information about the friendship between these titans of German literature. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Wolfgang-von-Goethe/Friendship-with-Schiller-1794-1805
It's reputed that over a period of ten years Schiller and Goethe wrote nearly a thousand letters to each other. The presence of Schiller in his life, who was younger, allegedly brought Goethe much happiness. Schiller must have been impressed with the older man who at the age of 22 had been practicing law. At 25, he had published The Sorrows Of Young Werther while also advising the Duke of Weimar on agriculture, mining, law, and military strategy, eventually becoming, at the age of 32, Minister of Finance and allegedly the most influential man at the Weimar court after the Duke. Goethe's Elective Affinities (1809) is set around Weimar.
This impressive memorial is located in the center of a plaza that on one side features the German National Theatre. Here is a link: https://www.nationaltheater-weimar.de/en/
On the other side of the plaza stands the building where the Weimar Republic was founded, known as the House Of The Weimar Republic, as seen below. Here is a link: https://www.detail.de/de_en/haus-der-weimarer-republik-von-muffler-architekten
I quote now from Mary von Schrader Jarrell's Afterword to her husband Randall Jarell's translation into English of Goethe's Faust, Part One.
"Goethe lived to be past eighty, continuing over the decades to influence the cultivated world with his plays, novels, essays, ballads and poems. Somehow there was time for him to direct the theater at Weimar, to study botany, geology, zoology, Greek art, philosophy, and meteorology; to discover the inermaxillary bone in humans; to write a treatise, The Science of Color, that is still a standard work in optics; to participate in two French campaigns, and travel extensively; to write journals, an autobiography, and thousands of letters."
This bust of Goethe is located among many different busts, including one of Schiller, inside the Roccoco Hall of the Duchess Anna Amalia Library, another must-see destination in Weimar.
Above is one of my shots of the Roccoco Hall of the Herzogin-Anna-Amalia Bibliothek, or the Anna Amalia Libary. The two shots below, taken from the Internet, show its exquisitely ornate interior. An original copy of Goether's Faust is held here,
This library was desingated in 1998 as a UNESCO Heritage site and is considered one of Germany's most important collections for books from the Age of Enlightenment and the Late Romantic period. It was started in 1691 and flourished under the patronage of Duchess Anna Amalia. Here is a link: https://www.klassik-stiftung.de/en/herzogin-anna-amalia-bibliothek/visits/rococo-hall/
Below are exterior shots of the library.
Here from another side, its opposite.
And here a third taken from the Park on the Ilm and featuring the library's Book Tower.
The younger Schiller was Goethe's closest friend. Here are a couple of the places in Weimar where he resided. This first one below was his home from 1799 to 1802.
This second one was a residence from 1787 to 1789.
Below is a third residence which now houses the Schiller Museum. Here is a link: https://www.klassik-stiftung.de/en/schiller-museum/
Here is a link to the Goethe and Schiller archive, seen below, and an image of the younger Schiller seated with a standing Goethe: https://www.klassik-stiftung.de/en/goethe-and-schiller-archive/
Now below we have Goethe's Garden House.
Formerly a 16th century vineyard cottage, this Garden House, now a museum, was gifted to Goethe by the Duke of Saxony-Weimar. Located in the Park on the Ilm River, it was Goethe's primary residence in Weimar from 1776 to 1782.
Goethe moved from here to live in the city center, but not after having designed beautifully landscaped gardens, a park, and planting shrubs, flowers, and fruit trees.
Goethe returned to the house in his later years, where he continued to write and to cultivate flowers, trees and vegetables. His grandchildren designated the house a commemorative site. Here is a link: https://www.klassik-stiftung.de/en/goethe-gartenhaus/
My good friend and travel partner, Nihat Ulner, stands in the garden in front of the Goethe cottage.
A doctor of German philosophy, Nihat has been a leading scholar of German philosophy and literature in Turkey for the past 30 years. A native Turk, though raised in Frankfurt until a teenager, he's fluent in both lanauges and considered one of Turkey's most esteemed translator from German into Turkish of Goethe's Sorrows Of Young Wether. If I'm not mistaken, his translation of Goethe's early novel is currently in its 12th printing.
We visited Weimar together, meeting there. Nihat had been invited to give a presentation as part of a five-day Global Conference on the Future of Nietzsche. This conference featured Nietzsche scholars from around the world. Its aim was to anazlyze the philosopher during these times we live in, and to get updates on how Nietzsche is being taught in universities around the world. The speakers were asked to discuss a variety of potential "futures," to coin a Nietzschean term, still available for application by citizens, students and professors of Neitzche alike. Here is a link to the conference web site: https://www.klassik-stiftung.de/en/research/research-activities/kolleg-friedrich-nietzsche/nietzsches-futures-2024/
Nietzsche moved to Weimar in 1897, and died three years later inside the home that now houses the Neitzsche archives. https://www.klassik-stiftung.de/en/nietzsche-archiv/
This photo above, lifted from the Internet, shows how the building's exterior looks today.
This is another Internet photo, specifically of Nietzsche's typewriter, which can be seen inside the archive building along with some of his notes, letters, and personal effects.
I quote from the Archive's website:
The ailing Friedrich Nietzsche spent his final years at the “Villa Silberblick” in the care of his sister Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche. After his death, she commissioned Henry van de Velde to refurbish the building, especially the rooms of the archive. The interior designs and furnishings are among the most exquisite creations ever made by the Belgian architect and designer.
Below are some Internet shots of Henry van de Velde's interior.
Not far from this home is the Kunsthalle Harry Graf, built in 1880, seen in the vintage photo below. As an art museum it's featured exhibitions of artists such as Max Klinger, Max Liebermann, Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, and Auguste Renoir. Here is a link: https://whichmuseum.com/museum/kunsthalle-harry-graf-kessler-weimar-25424
Harry Graf Kessler is an important and interesting character in Weimar history, a patron who made possible much of the Weimar history that is preserved today.
Here are some links to articles about him.
From The Irish Times: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/the-man-who-saw-it-all-1.254842
From Cambridge University Press: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/central-european-history/article/abs/rise-and-fall-of-the-third-weimar-harry-graf-kessler-and-the-aesthetic-state-in-wilhelmian-germany-19021906/2A11F91FDF7C74FDD664BE308BC522DC
From Cambridge University Special Collections: https://specialcollections-blog.lib.cam.ac.uk/?p=8365
Now, getting back to classicism and Herr Goethe, here are some shots I took of the 48 hectare, 18th-century Park on the Ilm, much of its design influenced by him.
I spent soothing time in this park along the River Ilm. I even visited a cave there that is now a museum. It was in this cave, initially dug as a mine, where Weimar families hid to shelter themselves during bombing raids. To learn more, I recommend this detailed blog site in which the author strolls slowly through the park and highlights all that he sees: https://lostfort.blogspot.com/2021/05/sites-of-weimar-classicism-park-at-ilm.html
Here, too, is an offical site full of information about Park on the Ilm:
Below are a couple of my own shots of the park's ruins of the Tempelherrenhaus, the House of the Templers, a successor organisation of the Knights Templar. This building was bombed during World War Two.
The park, partly designed in an English style -- Goethe was quite fond of the poet Lord Byron -- is also the site of a statue of William Shakespeare. (https://englishhistory.net/byron/critical-opinion-by-johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/ )
I sat here next to England's Bard of Avon and enjoyed a peaceful lunch alone.
Here's another quite different little monument to Shakespeare, a cafe in the city center.
Here below is another statue in the park, that of Alexander Pushkin, the great Russian poet.
The park is also home to a cemetary for Soviet East German soldiers killed in action during the Second World War. According to Wikipedia, in 1948, the East German government declared nearby Erfurt as Thuringia's new capital, and Weimar lost its influence on German contemporary culture and politics. The state of Thuringia itself was dissolved in 1952 and replaced by three Bezirke (districts) in a local reforming of government. Weimar belonged to the Bezirk of Erfurt. The city was the headquarters of the Soviet Union's 8th Guards Army as part of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. Due to its fame and importance for tourism, Weimar received more financial subsidies from the GDR government and remained in better condition than most East German cities.
The park also treated me to wonderful views of the River Ilm, and of open meandows, and what was once known as Schloss Weimar, which is now called Stadtschloss to distinguish it from other palaces in and around Weimar. This, according to Wikipedia, was the residence of the dukes of Saxe-Weimar and Eisenach, and has also been called Residenzschloss. Its names in English include Palace at Weimar, Grand Ducal Palace, City Palace and City Castle.
Politically speaking, Weimar was never really too influential as a city, though it was briefly the capital of Thuringia and played a vital role after World War I. This period in German history from 1919 to 1933 is commonly referred to as the Weimar Republic, as the Republic's constitution was drafted there rather than Berlin. The capital was considered too dangerous for the National Assembly to use as a meeting place because of street rioting during the Spartacist uprising. Reich President Friedrich Ebert favored Weimar because he hoped it would remind the victorious Allies of Weimar Classicism while they were deliberating the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Since the calm and centrally located Weimar had a suitable place of assembly (the theatre), hotels and infrastructure, it was chosen as the host city.
Archeological evidence suggests that the Thuringii already had a court here in the 6th century, but this building above dates back to the 17th century. The renaissance castle burned down in 1618, and again in 1774. Only the small Bastille gatehouse, seen here, remains of the original structure.
Here below are more shots, from different vantage points, of Stadtschloss, now a museum, known also as Residenzschloss, or Weimar Palace, with the Hausmann Tower.
Allegedly, in a cell in the Hausmann Tower, seen below, in November of 1717, Johan Sebastian Bach spent his last four weeks in Weimar.
In 1703, Johann Sebastian Bach worked in Weimar for six months as a violinist in the private chapel of Duke Johann Ernst. He returned in 1708 for approximately ten years, working as the leader of the court orchestra and organist from 1708 until 1717, and allegedly working for the first time with a full professional orchestra.
Before he moved on to Köthen, Bach purchased a house at Markt 16, at Market Square. His first six children were born here, including sons Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philip Emanuel. The Weimar years were productive ones. He composed almost 30 cantatas, early versions of the “Brandenburg Concertos,”and the majority of his organ works, along with his “Little Organ Book.” You can learn more about Bach in Weimar here: https://www.thueringer-bachwochen.de/en/bachland-thuringia/weimar/
Here below is a plaque for yet another famous Weimar resident.
Below we have the City Hall on Markt, or Market Square.
Here is an informative link to Market Square: https://furtherglory.com/EasternGermany/Weimar/Markt.html
And below we have one end of Market Square, opposite City Hall.
A city of splendid old doorways.
Below we have the entrance door to The University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar (in German: Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar). The Hungarian-born Liszt spent a significant part of his life in Weimar, and in 1835 began to encourage the founding of a school devoted to educating musicians. It was his student Carl Müllerhartung who on June 24, 1872 founded the university.
The University is located at Democracy Plaza, which is fronted by a statue, seen below, created by Adolf Donndorf to honor Grand Duke Carl Augustus, who was said to be a more than capable equestrian.
This was where in the late 20th Century the demonstrations took place that eventually marked the end of Soviet East Germany, as such, and the start of the reunification process.
In English: On October 24, 1989, the Tuesday demonstrations in Weimar began at this location. 'Democracy -- now or never'
The Bauhaus Museum below. Here is a link to the museum: https://www.klassik-stiftung.de/en/bauhaus-museum-weimar/. Here is a link to an excellent research site. a Who's Who of the Bauhaus: https://bauhauskooperation.com/knowledge
Below is the New Museum of Weimar, one of Germany's oldest public museums. It opened in 1869. Though it fell into disuse during the Soviet DDR period and was nearly demolished, it was reopened in 1999.
The Hochschule für Architektur and Bauwesen, or the School for Modern Architecture and Construction is at number 8 Geschwister-Scholl Strasse. It's known today as the Bauhaus-Universtät-Weimar.
This school goes back to the Art School founded in 1860 and directed by Stanislaus Graf von Kalckreuth (1820 - 1894). In 1907, it was combined with the College of Arts and Crafts founded by Henry van de Velde and continued by Walter Gropius as the Staatliches Bauhaus in 1919. Famous modern artists like Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger and Kandinsky were invited to lecture at the school.
In 1925 it became the College of Trades and Architecture after the Bauhaus architects were driven out of the city. Gropius left the Bauhaus in 1928, worked as an architect in Berlin, then moved to London in 1934. In 1937, he was appointed the head of the architecture department at Harvard University.
The school reopened as the State College of Architecture and Fine Arts in 1946 after the occupation of Weimar by the Soviet Union. The Fine Arts program was dropped in 1951. Between 1950 and 1962, the school included classes for Communist workers and farmers in addition to building trades classes.
Above, from Goethe, in English: The country that does not protect its foreigners will soon perish.
Lastly, below is a link to the Albert Schweitzer home and museum, which opened in 1984. https://whichmuseum.com/museum/albert-schweitzer-gedenkstatte-weimar-25406
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