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WEIMAR

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 496 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WEIMAR , a See also:

city of See also:Germany, the See also:capital of the See also:grand-duchy of See also:Saxe-Weimar-See also:Eisenach. It is situated in a fertile valley on the Ilm, a small tributary of the See also:Saale, 5o m. S.W. of See also:Leipzig and 141 m. S.W. of See also:Berlin, on the See also:main See also:line of railway to Bebra and See also:Frankfort-on-Main, and at the junction of three lines to See also:Jena, See also:Gera and See also:Berka and Rastenberg. Pop. (1885) 21,565, (1905) 31,1 21. Weimar owes its importance not to any See also:industrial development, which the grand-See also:dukes discourage within the limits of their Residenz, but to its intimate association with the classical See also:period of See also:German literature, which earned for it the See also:title of the " poets' city " and " the German See also:Athens." The See also:golden See also:age of Weimar, covered by the reign of See also:Charles See also:Augustus (q.v.) from 1775 to 1828, has See also:left an indelible impress on the See also:character of the See also:town. In spite of its classical associations and of See also:modern improvements, Weimar still retains much of its See also:medieval character. The walls survive, indeed, only in isolated fragments, but the narrow winding streets of the older See also:part of the town, and the See also:market-See also:place surrounded by houses with high-pitched gables and See also:roofs are very picturesque. Of the churches the Stadtkirche (See also:parish See also:church), of which See also:Herder became pastor in 1776, is a See also:Gothic See also:building dating from about 1400, but much altered in detail under " classical " influences. It contains the tombs of the princes of the See also:house of Saxe-Weimar, including those of the elector See also:John See also:Frederick the Magnanimous and his wife, and of See also:Duke Bernhard of Weimar, a See also:hero of the See also:Thirty Years' See also:War. The See also:altar-piece is a See also:triptych, the centre-piece representing the Crucifixion; beside the See also:cross See also:Luther is represented, with the open See also:Bible in his See also:hand, while the See also:blood from the pierced See also:side of the Saviour pours on to his See also:head.

The picture is regarded as the masterpiece of See also:

Lucas See also:Cranach (q.v.), who lived for a See also:time at Weimar, in the Bri ck'sches Haus on the market-place. In front of the church is a statue of Herder, whose house still serves as the parsonage. The other church, the Jakobs- or Hofkirche (See also:court church)" is also See also:ancient; its disused See also:churchyard containsthe See also:graves of Lucas Cranach and See also:Musaeus. The most important building in Weimar, is the See also:palace, a huge structure forming three sides of a quadrangle, erected (1789—1803) under the superintendence of See also:Goethe, on the site of one burned down in 1774. A remnant of the old palace, with a See also:tower, survives. The interior is very See also:fine, and in one of the wings is a See also:series of rooms dedicated to the poets Goethe, See also:Schiller, Herder and See also:Wieland, with appropriate mural paintings. Of more See also:interest, however, is the house in which Goethe himself lived from 1782 to 1832. It was built by the duke as a surprise See also:present for the poet on his return from his See also:Italian tour, and was regarded at the time as a palace of See also:art and luxury. It has therefore a See also:double interest, as the See also:home of the poet, and as a See also:complete example of a German nobleman's house at the beginning of the 19th See also:century, the See also:furniture and fittings (in Goethe's study and bedroom down to the smallest details) remaining as they were when the poet died? The house is built See also:round a quadrangle, in which is the See also:coach-house with Goethe's coach, and has a beautiful, old-fashioned See also:garden. The interior, apart from the scientific and art collections made by Goethe, is mainly remarkable for the extreme simplicity of its furnishing. The Goethe-Schiller Museum, as it is now called, stands isolated, the adjoining houses having been pulled down to avoid See also:risk of See also:fire.

Of more pathetic interest is the Schillerhaus, in the Schillerstrasse, containing the humble rooms in which Schiller lived and died. The See also:

atmosphere of the whole town is, indeed, dominated by the memory of Goethe and Schiller, whose See also:bronze statues, by See also:Rietschel, grouped on one See also:pedestal (unveiled in 1857) stand in front of the See also:theatre. The theatre, built under Goethe's superintendence in 1825, memorable in the See also:history of art not only for its associations with the golden age of German See also:drama, but as having witnessed the first performances of many of See also:Wagner's operas and other notable See also:stage pieces, was pulled down and replaced by a new building in 1907. The most beautiful See also:monument of Goethe's See also:genius in the town is, however, the See also:park, laid out in the informal " See also:English " See also:style, without enclosure of any See also:kind. Of Goethe's classic " conceits " which it contains, the See also:stone altar round which a See also:serpent climbs to eat the votive See also:bread upon it, inscribed to the " genius hujus loci," is the most famous. Just outside the See also:borders of the park, beyond the Ilm, is the " garden house," a See also:simple wooden cottage with a high-pitched roof, in which Goethe used to pass the greater part of the summer. Finally, in the See also:cemetery is the grand ducal See also:family vault, in which Goethe and Schiller also See also:lie, side by side. Wieland, who came to Weimar in 1772 as the duke's See also:tutor, is also commemorated by a statue (1857), and his house is indicated by a tablet. The town has been embellished by several other statues, including those of Charles Augustus (1875); Lucas Cranach (1886) ; See also:Marie Seibach (1889) ; the composer See also:Hummel (1895) and See also:Franz See also:Liszt (1904). Among the other prominent buildings in Weimar are the Gritnes Schloss (18th century), containing a library of 200,000 volumes and a valuable collection of portraits, busts and See also:literary and other curiosities; the old ducal See also:dower-house (Wittumspalais); the museum, built in 1863–1868 in the See also:Renaissance style with some old masters and See also:Preller's famous mural paintings illustrating the Odyssey. In 1896 the Goethe-Schiller Archiv, an imposing building on the wooded height above the Ilm, containing See also:MSS. by Goethe, Schiller, Herder, Wiel nd, See also:Immermann, Fritz See also:Reuter, See also:Morike, See also:Otto See also:Ludwig and others, s,-s opened. Weimar possesses also archaeological, ethnographic.

1 and natural See also:

science collections and the Liszt Museum (in the gardener's house in the park, for many years the musician's home). Among the educational establishments are a gymnasium, and Realschule, the Sophienstift (a large school for girls of the better cless, founded by the grand-duchess See also:Sophia), the grand-ducal school of art, See also:geographical institutes, a technical school, commercial school, See also:music school, teachers' seminaries, and See also:deaf and dumb and See also:blind asylums. An English church was opened in 1899. There are a few See also:industries, See also:printing, tanning and See also:cloth-See also:weaving. Various points ih the environs of Weimar are also interestingfrom their associations. A broad See also:avenue of chestnuts, about 2 m. in length, leads southwards from the town to the grand-ducal See also:chateau 1 To be strictly accurate, they thus remained until the See also:death of Goethe's last descendant in 1884. The house, which had been left to the grand-duke for the nation, was then found to be so structurally rotten that the interior had to be largely reconstructed. Everything was, however, replaced in the exact position it had previously occupied. of See also:Belvedere, in the gardens of which the open-See also:air theatre, used in Goethe's See also:day, still exists. To the See also:north-See also:east, at about the same distance from the town, are the tiny chateau and park of Tiefurt, on the See also:banks of the IIm, the See also:scene of many See also:pastoral court See also:revels in the past. To the north-See also:west is the Ettersberg, with the Ettersburg, a chateau which was another favourite resort of Charles Augustus and his See also:friends. The history of Weimar, apart from its association with Charles Augustus and his court, is of little See also:general interest.

The town is said to have existed so See also:

early as the 9th century. Till 1140 it belonged to the See also:counts of Orlamunde; it then See also:fell to See also:Albert the See also:Bear and the descendants of his second son. In 1247 Otto III. founded a See also:separate Weimar line of counts. In 1345 it became a See also:fief of the landgraves of Thuringia, to whom it escheated in 1385 with the extinction of the line of Otto III. At the See also:partition of See also:Saxony in 1485 Weimar, with Thuringia, fell to the See also:elder, Ernestine, See also:branch of the Saxon house of See also:Wettin, and has been the continuous See also:residence of the See also:senior branch of the dukes of this line since 1572. Under Charles Augustus Weimar became a centre of Liberalism as well as of art. It had previously narrowly escaped absorption by See also:Napoleon, who passed through the town during the pursuit of the Prussians after the See also:battle of Jena in 18o6, and was only dissuaded from abolishing the duchy by the tact and courage of the duchess Louisa. The traditions of Charles Augustus were well maintained by his See also:grandson, the grand-duke Charles See also:Alexander (1818--r9o1), whose statue now stands in the Karlsplatz. The grand-duke's connexion with the courts of See also:Russia and See also:Holland—his See also:mother was a See also:Russian grand-duchess and his wife, Sophia Louisa (1824-1897), a princess of the See also:Netherlands—tended to give the Weimar society a See also:cosmopolitan character, and the grand-duke devoted himself largely to encouraging men of See also:intellect, whether Germans or foreigners, who came to visit or to See also:settle in the town. The art school, founded by him in 1848, has had a notable series of eminent painters among its professors, including Preller, See also:Bocklin, See also:Kalckreuth, Max See also:Schmidt, Pauwels, Heumann, See also:Verlat and Thedy. Under the patronage of Charles Alexander, also, Weimar became a famous musical centre, principally owing to the presence of Franz Liszt, who from 1848 to 1886 made Weimar his See also:principal place of residence. Other notable conductors of the.

Weimar theatre See also:

orchestra were Eduard See also:Lassen and See also:Richard See also:Strauss. See See also:Scholl, Weimar's Merkwiirdigkeiten einst and jetzt (Weimar, 1857) ; See also:Springer, Weimar's klassische Stdtten (Berlin, 1868) ; Ruland, See also:Die Schdtze See also:des Goethe See also:National-Museums in Weimar (Weimar and Leipzig, 1887) ; See also:Francke, Weimar and Umgebungen (3rd ed., Weimar, 1900); See also:Kuhn, Weimar in Wort and Bild (4th ed., Jena, 1905).

End of Article: WEIMAR

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