Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [224]
Born in Frankfurt am Main and trained as a lawyer, Goethe quickly overcame the disadvantages of a wealthy background and a happy childhood to become the driving force of the 1770’s Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) literary movement. Though he worked and experimented in various styles throughout his life, his work with Friedrich Schiller fostered the theatrical style known as Weimar classicism. Goethe himself once described his work as ‘fragments of a great confession’. He was revered across Europe, even during his own lifetime. Napoléon invited him to France to be the Imperial Laureate. Though fascinated by Napoléon, Goethe was no blind admirer; he didn’t go to Paris.
Goethe’s defining work was Faust, a lyrical but highly charged retelling of the classic legend of a man selling his soul for knowledge. It took Goethe almost his entire life to complete it to his own satisfaction, and it’s still a much-performed piece of theatre in Germany today; a fitting legacy for a genuine giant.
* * *
BELVEDERE & TIEFURT PARKS
A short bus ride away (take bus 1 from Goetheplatz), the lovely Belvedere Park harbours Carl August’s former hunting palace, the Schloss Belvedere ( 545 401; adult/concession/under 16 €5/4/free; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun Apr-Sep). It displays glass, porcelain, faience and weapons from the late 17th and 18th centuries.
A few kilometres east of the Hauptbahnhof, Tiefurt Park is an English-style garden that embraces Schloss Tiefurt ( 545 401; Hauptstrasse 14, Weimar-Tiefurt; adult/concession/under 16 €5/4/free; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun Apr-Sep), Anna Amalia’s ‘temple of the muses’. The period rooms give you an impression of the age and her intellectual round-table gatherings where Goethe, Schiller and Herder were regulars. Bus 3 from Goetheplatz goes out here.
WEIMAR HAUS
The Weimar Haus ( 901 890; www.weimarhaus.de; Schillerstrasse 16; adult/concession €6.50/5.50; 10am-7pm Apr-Sep, 10am-6pm Oct-Mar) is a history museum for people who hate history museums. Sets, sound and light effects, wax figures and even an animatronic Goethe accompany you on your 30-minute journey into Thuringia’s past, from prehistory to the Enlightenment. The production values can be comical, but the entertainment factor is inarguably high.
Return to beginning of chapter
Walking Tour
Our tour begins on Theaterplatz. Here, the famous Goethe and Schiller statue (1; 1857) fronts the Deutsches Nationaltheater (2; German National Theatre), best known as the place where the National Assembly drafted the constitution of the Weimar Republic in 1919. Goethe was director here from 1791 to 1817, and Liszt and Strauss were its music directors in the late 19th century.
Across from here is the Bauhaus Museum (3; opposite), adjacent to the baroque Wittumspalais (4; 545 401; adult/concession/under 16 €5/4/free; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun Apr-Oct, 10am-4pm Tue-Sun Nov-Mar), once a residence of Anna Amalia.
From Theaterplatz, follow Schillerstrasse past the Weimar Haus (5; above) to the Schiller Haus (6; Click here), the one-time home of the famous dramatist. His buddy Johann Wolfgang von Goethe lived just down the street. Get there by turning right into Frauentorstrasse and following it to Frauenplan and the must-see Goethe Haus & Nationalmuseum (7; Click here).
Goethe’s long-time muse (and perhaps more), Charlotte von Stein, lived close by in what is now Haus der Frau von Stein (8) at the end of Seifengasse For now, it’s used by the Goethe-Institut language school and culture centre, but, since being sold to a private owner, its fate is uncertain.
* * *
WALK FACTS
Start Theaterplatz
Finish Markt
Distance 1.8km
Duration 1½ hours
* * *
Turning left puts you onto the Platz der Demokratie and thus next to the Fürstenhaus