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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: WAT-WIL |
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WEIMAR , a city of Germany, the capital of the grand-duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. It is situated in a fertile valley on the Ilm, a small tributary of the Saale, 5o m. S.W. of Leipzig
Augustus
In spite of its classical associations and of modern improvements, Weimar still retains much of its medieval character. The walls survive, indeed, only in isolated fragments, but the narrow winding streets of the older part of the town, and the market-place surrounded by houses with high-pitched gables and roofs are very picturesque. Of the churches the Stadtkirche (parish church), of which Herder became pastor in 1776, is a Gothic building dating from about 1400, but much altered in detail under " classical " influences. It contains the tombs of the princes of the house
house
series of rooms dedicated to the poets Goethe, Schiller, Herder and Wieland, with appropriate mural paintings. Of more interest
interest
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Of more pathetic interest is the Schillerhaus, in the Schillerstrasse, containing the humble rooms in which Schiller lived and died. The atmosphere of the whole town is, indeed, dominated by the memory of Goethe and Schiller, whose bronze statues, by Rietschel, grouped on one pedestal (unveiled in 1857) stand in front of the theatre. The theatre, built under Goethe's superintendence in 1825, memorable in the history of art not only for its associations with the golden age of German drama, but as having witnessed the first performances of many of Wagner's operas and other notable stage pieces, was pulled down and replaced by a new building in 1907. The most beautiful monument of Goethe's genius in the town is, however, the park, laid out in the informal " English " style, without enclosure of any kind. Of Goethe's classic " conceits " which it contains, the stone altar round which a serpent climbs to eat the votive bread upon it, inscribed to the " genius hujus loci," is the most famous. Just outside the borders of the park, beyond the Ilm, is the " garden house," a simple wooden cottage with a high-pitched roof, in which Goethe used to pass the greater part of the summer. Finally, in the cemetery is the grand ducal family vault, in which Goethe and Schiller also lie, side by side. Wieland, who came to Weimar in 1772 as the duke's 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
Sophia
Various points ih the environs of Weimar are also interestingfrom their associations. A broad avenue of chestnuts, about 2 m. in length, leads southwards from the town to the grand-ducal chateau 1 To be strictly accurate, they thus remained until the 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 Belvedere, in the gardens of which the open-air theatre, used in Goethe's day, still exists. To the north-east, at about the same distance from the town, are the tiny chateau and park of Tiefurt, on the banks of the IIm, the scene of many pastoral
The history of Weimar, apart from its association with Charles Augustus and his court, is of little general interest. The town is said to have existed so early as the 9th century. Till 1140 it belonged to the counts of Orlamunde; it then fell to Albert the Bear and the descendants of his second son. In 1247 Otto III. founded a separate Weimar line of counts. In 1345 it became a fief of the landgraves of Thuringia, to whom it escheated in 1385 with the extinction of the line of Otto III. At the partition of Saxony in 1485 Weimar, with Thuringia, fell to the elder, Ernestine, branch of the Saxon house of Wettin, and has been the continuous residence of the 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 Napoleon, who passed through the town during the pursuit of the Prussians after the 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 grandson, the grand-duke Charles Alexander (1818--r9o1), whose statue now stands in the Karlsplatz. The grand-duke's connexion with the courts of Russia and Hollandhis mother was a Russian grand-duchess and his wife, Sophia
series of eminent painters among its professors, including Preller, Bocklin, Kalckreuth, Max Schmidt, Pauwels, Heumann, 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 principal place of residence. Other notable conductors of the. Weimar theatre orchestra were Eduard Lassen and Richard Strauss.See Scholl, Weimar's Merkwiirdigkeiten einst and jetzt (Weimar, 1857) ; Springer, Weimar's klassische Stdtten (Berlin, 1868) ; Ruland, Die Schdtze des Goethe National-Museums in Weimar (Weimar and Leipzig
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