The Residenzschloss, or Residential Palace, of the Dukes of Saxe-Weimar was first constructed in the Middle Ages and was expanded and renovated until 1774, when a fire destroyed it. Following the fire, Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, rebuilt it but preserved the earlier baroque façade.
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The Residenzschloss, or Residential Palace, of the Dukes of Saxe-Weimar was first constructed in the Middle Ages and was expanded and renovated until 1774, when a fire destroyed it. Following the fire, Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, rebuilt it but preserved the earlier baroque façade.
The city of Weimar is historically linked with a number of famous German writers, including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who is buried in the city. In 1834, two years after Goethe’s death, Maria Pawlowna, the Grand Princess of Russia and Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, created plans for Dichterzinner, or “Poet Rooms,” in the west wing of the palace, to commemorate the influential Weimar poets Goethe, Herder, Schiller, and Wieland. It was an intellectual center open to citizens of the city. As such, it was an important educational center for the community. The Goethe Gallery is the most prominent of these rooms, designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel and decorated by Bernhard Neher and his pupil, Carl Hutter, with scenes from Goethe’s works.
