The Goethe House (''Goethes Wohnhaus'') is a building located in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is the primary house lived in by the influential writer, poet, and statesman

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

from 1782 to 1832 (although he did live in several others in the town). The house was built in 1709 by Georg Caspar Helmershausen. However, the rooms were personally redesigned by Goethe once he arrived in Weimar to reflect the ideals of the burgeoning

Weimar Classicism Weimar Classicism () was a German literary and cultural movement, whose practitioners established a new humanism from the synthesis of ideas from Romanticism, Classicism, and the Age of Enlightenment. It was named after the city of Weimar in th ...

movement, in which Goethe was especially prominent. Many of the original furnishings are still present in the house. Adjacent to the house is a garden, which primarily served to provide produce for Goethe's family, including asparagus, artichokes, apricots, and grapes. In 1817, Goethe extended the garden to the east and built a pavilion to store his mineral collection. The home serves as the main location of the

Goethe-Nationalmuseum The Goethe-Nationalmuseum is a museum devoted to the German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in the town of Weimar in Germany. Originally comprising the Goethe House, where Goethe lived intermittently for 50 years from 1782 to 1832, the muse ...

, and in 1998 it was inscribed on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage List World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

along with other buildings and sites associated with Weimar Classicism, because of their exceptional architecture and testimony to Weimar's influence as a cultural hub during the late 18th and 19th centuries.

References

External links

*
Goethe’s Home with Goethe National Museum
– official site (archive)
visual tour of the Goethe House
– Louis Held Museums in Weimar Johann Wolfgang von Goethe museums Classical Weimar World Heritage Site Biographical museums in Germany Historic house museums in Germany Literary museums in Germany {{Thuringia-struct-stub