Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [225]
Continue north to Burgplatz, anchored by the Stadtschloss (11), the former residence of the ducal family of Saxe-Weimar. Inside is the Schlossmuseum ( 545 960; Burgplatz 4; adult/concession/under 16 €6/5/free; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun Apr-Oct, to 4pm Nov-Mar) with art by Albrecht Dürer, Dutch masters and German romanticists. Several restored rooms are also open for touring.
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HOW THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC GOT ITS NAME
Despite its name, the Weimar Republic (1919–33), Germany’s first dalliance with democracy, was never actually governed from Weimar. The town on the Ilm River was merely the place where, in 1919, the National Assembly drafted and passed the country’s first constitution.
Assembly delegates felt that the volatile and explosive political climate rocking post-WWI Berlin would threaten the democratic process if it took place there, and looked for an alternative location. Weimar had several factors in its favour: a central location, a suitable venue (the Deutsches Nationaltheater), and a humanist tradition entirely antithetical to the militaristic Prussian spirit that had led to war.
Weimar’s spot in the democratic limelight, however, lasted only briefly. With the situation in Berlin calming down, the delegates returned to the capital just one week after passing the constitution on 31 July.
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West of here, via Vorwerksgasse, is Herder-platz, dominated by the Stadtkirche St Peter und Paul (12; 851 518; Herderplatz; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-noon & 2-4pm Sat, to 3pm Sun Apr-Oct, 11am-noon & 3-4pm daily Nov-Mar), popularly known as the Herderkirche after Johann Gottfried Herder, who’s buried inside. The church has a famous altarpiece (1555), painted by the Cranach father-and-son team, and a triptych showing Martin Luther as a knight, professor and monk.
Heading south on Kaufstrasse takes you to the Markt, where our tour ends. Treat yourself to a sausage or a cuppa and look around at the gorgeous buildings framing this central square: the neo-Gothic Rathaus (13; 1841), the Stadthaus (14), which now houses the tourist office, and the Renaissance Cranachhaus (15), where Cranach the Elder lived for two years before his death in 1553.
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Sleeping
Visitors to Weimar pay a supplement of €2 per room per overnight stay for the upkeep of cultural sites.
BUDGET
Weimar has four DJH hostels, which are usually crawling with pimple-faced teens on school excursions. If that doesn’t deter you, contact the DJH Service Centre ( 850 000; www.djh-thuringen.de; Carl-August-Allee 13) for information and reservations. Otherwise try Labyrinth Hostel (below).
Labyrinth Hostel ( 811 822; www.weimar-hostel.com; Goetheplatz 6; dm €13-20, s €29-40, d €40-46, linen €2, breakfast €3; ) Loads of imagination has gone into this professionally run hostel with artist-designed rooms. In one double, for example, the bed perches on stacks of books, while another comes with a wooden high-platform bed. Bathrooms are shared and so are the kitchen and the lovely rooftop terrace. Dorm 8 has a balcony.
MIDRANGE
Hotel zur Sonne ( 862 90; Rollplatz 2; s €47-52, d €67-86; ) Although rooms are small and nondescript in this friendly, traditional hotel, it’s clean, reliable and right in town and has a downstairs restaurant.
Hotel Amalienhof ( 5490; www.amalienhof-weimar.de; Amalienstrasse 2; s €60-75, d €80-105; ) The charms of this church-affiliated hotel are manifold: classy antique furnishings, richly styled rooms that point to history without burying you in it, and a late breakfast buffet for those who take their holidays seriously. It’s a splendid choice.
Hotel Anna Amalia ( 495 60; www.hotel-anna-amalia.de; Geleitstrasse 8-12; s €60-75, d €85-120, apt €120-180; ) The Mediterranean look, with its nice, fresh colour scheme, exudes feel-good cheer in this family-run hotel near Goetheplatz. For more panache and elbow room, book one of the apartments, which