Weimar Things to Do

The legendary Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lizst joined the artistic throng to have stayed in Weimar when he moved here in 1848. His garden house, where he spent 17 years in the city, remains today at the edge of the park on Marienstrasse, opposite the world famous Bauhaus University.

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The Park an der Ilm is a massive expanse of land following the river Ilm to the south and east of the city; it is about as big as the city itself. It is an English style park, and includes a number of ruined follies, a cemetary for fallen Soviet soldiers, and a number of important buildings are either in the park or abut it, like Listz's home. The park itself is so big it is easy to escape from the city crowds and feel completely isolated from humanity, as if you were walking out into the countryside itself. The volume of trees, the weaving paths, and the overgrown ruins make it feel like you have left civilization for a brief moment. It's definitely a place worth wandering for an hour or two.

Democracy Square holds some of Weimar's most prestigious buildings, and gives a grand view of the city's palace. It features some colourful buildings of a number of architectural schools. There are three palaces, one red, one yellow, and one green. The green palace hosts one of the most famous German language libraries in the world, the Herzogin-Anna-Amalia Bibliothek, which was the scene of a hugely damaging fire in 2004. The Baroque Fürstenhaus is home to the Liszt-Hochschule school of music, and I heard a stream of music pouring out of every open window as I walked around.

Herplatz is just north of the Markt, and contains the Stadtkirche St Peter und Paul, more commonly known locally as Herderkirche in honour of the poet the square is named after. It is a grand, shining white, Gothic church that unfortunately sits right on top of a car park. When I was there I enjoyed a coffee in one of the pleasant cafes nearby, and watched as a German film crew recorded a scene from an upcoming children's movie called "The Ten Commandments".

The National Theatre in Weimar has a variety of performances throughout the week, including lectures, dramas, and musicals. When I was there, I saw Franz Wittenbrink's "Secretaries", a modern musical-comedy, which was wonderful. It cost 25 Euros and was well worth it. It's a beautiful theatre with great acoustics.

The Schiller House is a nice way to see how he lived his last years, even though most things in the house are not original. It is a 2-level house with many rooms including Schiller's writing room and the children's bedroom. There is an audio guide in multiple languages, which includes some excerpts from Schiller's and Goethe's works. Open every day except Tuesday. 2005 is the 200th anniversary of his death, and there are many events around the town devoted to him.

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (November 10, 1759 – May 9, 1805),
usually known as Friedrich Schiller, was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and dramatist.
He was born in Marbach (located in Germany's Stuttgart Region), the son of the military doctor, J. C. Schiller. His childhood and youth were spent in relative poverty, although he attended both village and Latin schools, and coming to the attention of Karl Eugen, Duke of Württemberg, entered the Karlsschule Stuttgart (an elite military academy founded by Duke Karl Eugen) in 1773, where he eventually studied medicine.
While at the arduous and oppressive school, he read Rousseau and Goethe and discussed Classical ideals with his classmates. At school, he wrote his first play, The Robbers, about a group of naïve revolutionaries and their tragic failure.
In 1780 he obtained a post as regimental doctor in Stuttgart.
Following the performance of Die Räuber (The Robbers) in Mannheim in 1781 he was arrested and forbidden to publish any further works. He fled Stuttgart in 1783 coming via Leipzig and Dresden to Weimar in 1787. In 1789 he was appointed professor of History and Philosophy in Jena, where he wrote only historical works. He returned to Weimar in 1799, where Goethe convinced him to return to playwriting. He and Goethe founded the Weimar Theater which became the leading theater in Germany, leading to a dramatic renaissance. He remained in Weimar until his death at 45 from tuberculosis.

Part of Schiller's work, his Plays:

Die Räuber or The Robbers (1781)
Kabale und Liebe or Intrigue and Love (1784)
Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien or Don Carlos (1787)
Wallenstein (1800) (translated from a manuscript copy into English as The Piccolomini and Death of Wallenstein by Coleridge in 1800)
Die Jungfrau von Orleans or The Maid of Orleans (1801)
Maria Stuart or Mary Stuart (1801)
Die Braut von Messina (1803),
Wilhelm Tell or William Tell (1804)
Demetrius (unfinished at his death)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (August 28, 1749 – March 22, 1832)
was a German writer, politician, humanist, scientist, and philosopher. As a writer, Goethe was one of the paramount figures of German literature and European Romanticism during and around the 18th and 19th century. Goethe was the author of Faust and Theory of Colours and inspired Darwin with his independent discovery of the human premaxilla jaw bones.
Goethe was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. His father was a man of means and position, and he personally supervised the early education of his son. The young Goethe studied at the universities of Leipzig and Strasbourg, and in 1772 entered upon the practice of law at Wetzlar. At the invitation of Karl August, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, he went in 1775 to live in Weimar, where he held a succession of political offices, becoming the Duke's chief adviser. From 1786 to 1788 he traveled in Italy, and directed the ducal theater at Weimar. He took part in the Napoleonic wars against France, and in the following began a friendship with Friedrich Schiller, which lasted till the latter's death in 1805. In 1806 he married Christiane Vulpius. As of 1820 he was on friendly terms with Kaspar Maria von Sternberg. From about 1794, he devoted himself chiefly to literature, and after a life of extraordinary productiveness, died in Weimar.

Part of Goethe's work:

Götz von Berlichingen
The Sorrows of Young Werther
Sturm und Drang
Wilhelm Meister
Iphigenie
Egmont
Torquato Tasso
Reineke Fuchs.
Hermann and Dorothea
Roman Elegies
Faust
Elective Affinities
Dichtung und Wahrheit