Weimar

Weimar
Coat of arms of Weimar
Weimar is located in Germany
Weimar
Coordinates 50°59′0″N 11°19′0″E / 50.983333°N 11.316667°E / 50.983333; 11.316667
Administration
Country Germany
State Thuringia
District Urban district
Town subdivisions 12 districts
Lord Mayor Stefan Wolf (SPD)
Basic statistics
Area 84.26 km2 (32.53 sq mi)
Elevation 208 m  (682 ft)
Population  64,720  (31 December 2007)[1]
 - Density 768 /km2 (1,989 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate WE
Postal codes 99401–99441
Area codes 03643, 036453
Website www.weimar.de
Classical Weimar*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
The city hall
State Party  Germany
Type Cultural
Criteria iii, vi
Reference 846
Region** Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription 1998  (22nd Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List.
** Region as classified by UNESCO.
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Weimar (German pronunciation: ) is a city in Germany mostly known for its cultural heritage. It is located in the Bundesland of Thuringia (German: Thüringen), north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899. Weimar was the capital of the Duchy (after 1815 the Grand Duchy) of Saxe-Weimar (German Sachsen-Weimar). Its cultural heritage includes the Weimar Classicism of Goethe and Schiller, the Bauhaus as well as the Weimar Republic.

Contents

History

The Grand-Ducal Palace.
Goethe and Schiller in front of the Deutsches Nationaltheater and Staatskapelle Weimar.

The oldest records about Weimar date back to the year 899. Its name changed over the centuries from "Wimares" through "Wimari" to "Wimar" and finally "Weimar" (sainted marsh). In 1410 it received city rights, however the growth of the city was severely affected by the 1424 fires.

In 1552 Weimar became the capital of the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar (German Sachsen-Weimar) and remained so until 1918.

18th and 19th centuries

During the regencies of Anna Amalia (1758–1775) and her son Carl August (1809–1828), Weimar became an important cultural centre of Europe, having been home to such luminaries as Goethe, Schiller, and Herder; and in music the piano virtuoso Hummel (a pupil of Mozart). It has been a site of pilgrimage for the German intelligentsia since Goethe first moved to Weimar in the late 18th century. The tombs of Goethe and Schiller, as well as their archives, may be found in the city. Goethe's Elective Affinities (1809) is set around the city of Weimar.

Weimar Republic

For more details on this topic, see Weimar Republic.

The period in German history from 1919 to 1933 is commonly referred to as the Weimar Republic, as the Republic's constitution was drafted here because the capital, Berlin, with its street rioting after the 1918 German Revolution, was considered too dangerous for the National Assembly to use it as a meeting place.

Weimar was, beside Dessau, the center of the Bauhaus movement. The city houses art galleries, museums and the German national theatre. The Bauhaus University and the Liszt School of Music Weimar attracted many students, specializing in media and design, architecture, civil engineering and music, to Weimar.

Nazi Germany

Buchenwald's main gate, with the slogan Jedem das Seine (literally, "to each his own", but figuratively "everyone gets what they deserve")

In 1937, the Nazis constructed the Buchenwald concentration camp, only eight kilometers from Weimar's city center. The slogan Jedem das Seine (literally "to each his own", but figuratively "everyone gets what he deserves") was placed over the camp's main entrance gate. Between July 1938 and April 1945, some 240,000 people were incarcerated in Buchenwald by the Nazi regime, including 168 Western Allied POWs.[2] The number of deaths at Buchenwald is estimated at 56,545.[3] The Buchenwald concentration camp provided slave labour for local industry (arms industry of Wilhelm-Gustloff-Werk).[4] World War II ended with Nazi Germany's defeat and division into East and West Germany. From 1945 to 1950, the Soviet Union used the occupied Buchenwald concentration camp to imprison defeated Nazis and other Germans. The camp slogan remained Jedem das Seine. On 6 January 1950, the Soviets handed over Buchenwald to the East German Ministry of Internal Affairs.

German Democratic Republic (East Germany)

Weimar was part of the German Democratic Republic (DDR, East Germany) from 1949 to 1990.

Recent years

The European Council of Ministers selected the city as European Capital of Culture for 1999.

On 2 September 2004, a fire broke out at the Duchess Anna Amalia Library. The library contains a 13,000-volume collection including Goethe's masterpiece Faust, in addition to a music collection of the Duchess. An authentic Lutheran Bible from 1534 was saved from the fire. The damage stretched into the millions of dollars. The number of books in this historic library exceeded 1,000,000, of which 40,000 to 50,000 were destroyed past recovery. The library, which dates back to 1691, belongs to UNESCO world heritage, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. The fire, with its destruction of much historical literature, amounts to a huge cultural loss for Germany, Europe, and indeed the world. A number of books were shock-frozen in the city of Leipzig to save them from rotting. On 24 October 2007 the library has been reopened. Visitors should book their tickets many months in advance.

Places of interest

  • National Goethe Museum and Goethe House
  • Schiller House with Schiller Museum
  • Park at the river Ilm with Goethe's Sommerhouse,
  • Historical Cemetery with final resting place for Goethe, and Schiller's coffin but without Schiller's mortal remains
  • Wittumspalais
  • Liszt Museum
  • Palace Museum
  • German National Theatre
  • New Weimar Museum
  • Bauhaus Museum
  • main building of the Bauhaus University (planned by Henry van de Velde)
  • Buchenwald Memorial

Onion Market

For 3 days in October the Onion Market (Zwiebelmarkt) takes place in Weimar every year. It's Thuringia's biggest local fair. There are about 500 stalls and more than 100 performances on the stages within the city. (about 300,000 visitors)



Famous residents of Weimar

Schiller House.
Goethe's garden house.
Liszt's garden house.

Districts

  • Ehringsdorf
  • Gaberndorf
  • Gelmeroda
  • Holzdorf
  • Legefeld
  • Niedergrunstedt
  • Oberweimar
  • Possendorf
  • Schöndorf
  • Süßenborn
  • Taubach
  • Tiefurt
  • Tröbsdorf

Education

Transportation

It is connected by one motorway and two routes:

  • Autobahn
  • Routes:
    • 7
    • 85

There are railways running from Weimar to Erfurt (westbound), Halle/Leipzig (north-east-bound), Jena–Gera–Chemnitz (eastbound) and Kranichfeld (southbound). The ICE-line-trains from Frankfurt to Dresden arrive in Weimar every hour.

International relations

Main article: List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany

Twin towns — Sister cities

Weimar is twinned with:

Popular culture

Weimar, as "Traktionstadt Weimar", is the founder of the Traktionstadtsgesellschaft in Philip Reeve's series, the Mortal Engines Quartet. This is a fictional league of German traction cities, later joined by Manchester, formed to combat the Anti-tractionists thousands of years in the future.

See also

References

  1. ^ Thüringer Landesamt für Statistik. "Population data". http://www.tls.thueringen.de/. Retrieved 2007-08-10. 
  2. ^ Bartel, Walter: Buchenwald—Mahnung und Verpflichtung: Dokumente und Berichte (Buchenwald: Warnings and our obligation [to future generations]—Documents and reports), Kongress-Verlag, 1960. p. 87, line 8. (German)
  3. ^ Podcast with one of 2000 Danish policemen in Buchenwald. Episode 6 is about statistics for the number of deaths at Buchenwald.
  4. ^ Edward Victor.Alphabetical List of Camps, Subcamps and Other Camps.www.edwardvictor.com/Holocaust/List %20 of %20 camps.htm
  5. ^ Liszt School of Music Weimar

External links

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This page was last modified on 17 February 2010 at 00:53.

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