Weimar, Germany Tourist Attractions
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Weimar, famed as the city of Goethe and the great center of German classical literature, lies in the valley of the Ilm in the southeast of the Thuringian Basin, to the south of the Grosser Ettersberg.
Herder Church
The central feature of the old town of Weimar (now protected as a national monument) is the Stadtkirche (Town Church) or Herder Church, a Late Gothic hall-church (1498-1500) dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul in which Johann Gottfried Herder, the great 18th C. writer and philosopher, officiated as court preacher for many years. In the west choir, under the organ gallery, is Herder's tomb. The church has a large winged altar (probably begun by Lucas Cranach the Elder and completed by Lucas Cranach the Younger in 1555), the grave slab of Lucas Cranach the Elder (d. 1553) and a number of monuments of members of the Ernestine line (mostly 16th C.).In front of the church is a statue of Herder (by L. Schaller, 1850).
Kirms-Krackow House
Northeast of the Weimar Herder Church, at Jakobstrasse 10, is the Kirms-Krackow House. Originally Late Gothic, it has a plain Baroque facade. Features of the interior are a courtyard with a wooden gallery, a garden with a tea-house and residential apartments and offices in neo-classical style. It now houses a Herder Museum.
National Theater
In Theaterplatz in Weimar stands the German National Theater. The present building, the third on the site, dates from 1907. Goethe was director of the original theater for some years, and Franz Liszt and Richard Strauss were musical directors of its 19th C. successor.In front of the Theater is a statue of Goethe and Schiller (by Ernst Rietschel, 1857).
Kunsthalle
Opposite the Weimar National Theater is the neo-classical facade of the old Kulissenhaus (theater store), now the Kunsthalle (art exhibitions).
Wittumspalais
Adjoining the Kunsthalle in Weimar is the Wittumspalais (1767), home of the Dowager Duchess Anna Amalia and a great center of social and literary activity during Goethe's early years in Weimar. Period furniture; paintings; Wieland Museum.
Schiller House
At Schillerstrasse 12 in Weimar can be found the Schiller House (1777), in which the dramatist lived from 1802 until his death in 1805. The rooms are furnished in period style (restored 1986-87).
Schiller Museum
Adjoining the Schiller House in Weimar is the new Schiller Museum (opened 1988) with a rich collection of material on his life and works.
Goethe House
In the Frauenplan in Weimar, adjoining the historic old "White Swan" inn, is the Goethe House, a plain Baroque building (1709) in which Goethe lived from 1782 until his death in 1832. Furnished as it was in Goethe's time, with his pictures on the walls, it contains his art and scientific collections. Adjoining his work-room are the modest room in which he died and his library (5,400 volumes). Behind the house is a small garden.The upper floor of the house contains the Goethe National Museum, with a wide range of material on his life and work.A short distance away, at Ackerwand 25, can be seen the house of Goethe's friend Frau von Stein.
Lucas Cranach House
Among the old houses round the Weimar Markt (many of them rebuilt) is the Lucas Cranach House (1549), a handsome two-gabled Renaissance building in which Lucas Cranach the Elder spent the last year of his life.
St James's Church
There are a number of fine buildings around St James's Church (Jakobskirche; 1712) in Weimar, an aisleless Baroque church with a double row of windows; west tower with onion dome.
St James's Churchyard
St James's churchyard, in the northwestern district of Weimar, contains the vault in which Schiller was originally buried and the graves of Lucas Cranach the Elder, Goethe's wife Christiane and many other noted Weimar figures.
Municipal Museum
In Karl-Liebkneccht-Strasse stands the Weimar Bertuchhaus (1802-06), a neo-classical building with a spacious hall and a double staircase, the home of F. J. Bertuch, an early 19th C. Weimar businessman. It is now occupied by the Municipal Museum.
Kasseturm
In Goetheplatz, the hub of Weimar, from where a pedestrian boulevard runs south to Theaterplatz and Schillerstrasse, rises the Kasseturm, a round tower (rebuilt in the late 18th C) which formed part of Weimar's medieval fortifications. It now houses a student club.
Weimar Schloss
The Great Hall, the Falcon Gallery, the Luisenzimmer, and the Goethe Gallery are all highlights of the neo-Classical, Weimar Schloss..
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Platz der Demokratie
To the south of the Schloss in Weimar lies the Platz der Demokratie.
Fürstenhaus
On the south side of the Platz der Demokratie in Weimar is the Fürstenhaus (1774), a three-story Baroque building with a colonnade added in 1889. It is now occupied by the Academy of Music (Hochschule für Musik). In front of the building is an equestrian statue of Grand Duke Carl August (by A. von Donndorf, 1875).
Green Castle
On the east side of the Platz der Demokratie in Weimar stands the Grünes Schloss (Green Castle), a Renaissance building of 1563 which was rebuilt in simplified form in the 18th C, with a magnificent library hall. It is now occupied by the Central Library of the German Classical Period (Zentralbibliothek der deutschen Klassik).
Red Castle
On the west side of the Platz der Demokratie in Weimar is the Rotes Schloss (Red Castle; 1574-76), with a Renaissance doorway. Nearby is the Gelbes Schloss (Yellow Castle), a two-story Baroque building begun in 1702. In the courtyard is an amusing figure (by G. Elster) of the "Aktenmännchen" (civil servant).
Park on the Ilm
The Park on the Ilm in Weimar, the layout of which was planned by Goethe, is a beautiful landscaped park in which nature and art are happily combined.
Goethe's Garden House
On the east side of the Ilm can be seen Goethe's garden house, a plain 17th C building which was Goethe's home from 1776 to 1782 and which he frequently visited in later years. It contains the original furniture and other mementos.
Roman House
High above the west bank of the Ilm is the Roman House (Römisches Haus; 1791-97), designed by Goethe for Duke Carl August.
Liszt's House
In the Belvederer Allee, on the west side of the park, is the modest house originally occupied by the court gardener, in which Franz Liszt lived from 1869-86 (small exhibition of mementos).
Museum of Prehistory
At Humboldtstrasse 11, on the south side of the old town, can be found the Posecksches Haus, a plain patrician house of the Goethe period, now occupied by the Museum of Prehistory and the Early Historical Period (Museum für Ur- und Frühgeschichte).
Frauentor Cemetery
Immediately south of the Museum of Prehistory in Weimar lies the Frauentor Cemetery, with the vault in which Goethe and Schiller are buried (Goethe- und Schillergruft). An avenue lined by fine old trees leads to a domed neo-classical chapel (by the court architect C. W. Coudray, 1825-27), under which is the vault containing the remains of Goethe, Schiller and Grand Duke Carl August.South of this is the Russian Chapel (1862), in which Grand Duchess Maria Pawlowna is buried.Also in the cemetery are the graves of other members of the Goethe family and many friends and associates of Goethe, including Charlotte von Stein, Johann Peter Eckermann (author of "Conversations with Goethe"), the composer Nepomuk Hummel and C. W. Coudray. There is also a striking monument (by Walter Gropius, 1921) to those who fell in the 1848 Revolution.
Ettersberg
To the north of Weimar rises the Ettersberg (478m/1,568ft). Here in 1937 the Nazis established the notorious Buchenwald concentration camp in which 56,000 people died. It is now a memorial site (Gedenkstätte Buchenwald).The memorial site, with the Grove of Honor and a bell-tower, was laid out between 1954 and 1958 on the southern slope of the hill, the site of the mass graves. On the site of the camp itself is a Museum of the Resistance.
Bauhaus Museum
The Bauhaus Museum exhibits mainly 20th C art representative of the Bauhaus movement.
Memorial Buchenwald
Memorial Buchenwald is a former concentration and internment camp. There is a historical exhibition on the premises.
St Peter and St Paul Church
St. Peter and St. Paul Church in Weimar is a Gothic church and hall with three naves. It has a Baroque decor and Cranach triptych.
New Museum Weimar
The New Museum Weimar contains a collection of contemporary art by Paul Maenz.
Map of Weimar Attractions
Map - Weimar
