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98-577: Jugendstil ( German pronunciation: [ˈjuːɡn̩tˌstiːl] ; "Youth Style") was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts , that was influential primarily in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German counterpart of Art Nouveau . The members of the movement were reacting against the historicism and neo-classicism of

196-405: A Ferris wheel . There are several clubs with live music once or twice a week. There is also a student club in the city centre which also features disco and live music events on Friday- and Saturday nights (Kasseturm). There are several smaller theatre and cabaret venues other than the large "DNT" (Deutsches National Theater). There are four cinemas including a 3-D cinema, and a Bowling Alley in

294-682: A town hall and the current main church. In 1438 Weimar acquired trade privileges for woad, a plant from which blue dye was made. The castle and the walls were finished in the 16th century, making Weimar into a full city. After the Treaty of Leipzig (1485) Weimar became part of the electorate of the Ernestine branch of Wettins with Wittenberg as capital. The Protestant Reformation was introduced in Weimar in 1525; Martin Luther stayed several times in

392-486: A 'lesser art' was formally challenged in the 1970s by writers and art historians like Amy Goldin and Anne Swartz. The argument for a singular narrative in art had lost traction by the close of the 20th century through post-modernist irony and increasing curatorial interest in street art and in ethnic decorative traditions. The Pattern and Decoration movement in New York galleries in the 1980s, though short-lived, opened

490-641: A city of clerks, artists and rentiers. During the German Revolution of 1918–19 the last reigning grand duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach , William Ernest, had to abdicate and went in exile to Heinrichau in Silesia. The period in German history from 1919 to 1933 is commonly referred to as the Weimar Republic , as the Republic's constitution was drafted there rather than Berlin . The capital

588-784: A great fire in 1774. The tower and the Bastille building at its south-western edge are relics of older castles in this place. The Fürstenhaus at Platz der Demokratie was the first parliament building in Weimar, established in the 1770s. Today it is in use by the Weimar School of Music. The Green Castle next to the Fürstenhaus was built in the 1560s in Renaissance style and hosts today the Duchess Anna Amalia Library . The Yellow Castle at Grüner Markt

686-582: A group of other notable Jugendstil artists, including ( Hermann Muthesius , Theodor Fischer , Josef Hoffmann , Joseph Maria Olbrich , Bruno Paul , Richard Riemerschmid , and Fritz Schumacher , created the Deutscher Werkbund . Modeled after the Arts and Crafts movement in England, its goal was to improve and modernize the design of industrial products and everyday objects. He first major project

784-600: A major part in the emergence of modern architecture . The architect and designer Peter Behrens (1868–1940) was a key figure in the final years of the Jugendstil , and in the transition to modern architecture. Born in Hamburg , where he studied painting, Behrens moved to Munich in 1890 and worked as a painter, illustrator and bookbinder. In 1890, he was one of the founders of the Munich Secession . In 1899, he

882-416: A microclimate caused through the basin position with sometimes inversion in winter (quite cold nights under −20 °C (−4 °F)). Annual precipitation is only 535 mm (21.1 in) with moderate rainfall throughout the year. Light snowfall occurs, mainly from December through February, but snow cover does not usually remain for long. The Weimar ( Erfurt–Weimar Airport ) weather station has recorded

980-430: A migrant background (according to 2011 EU census ). Differing from the national average, the biggest groups of migrants in Weimar are Vietnamese people , Russians and Ukrainians . During recent years, the economic situation of the city improved: the unemployment rate declined from 20% in 2005 to 5.1% in 2019. Due to the official atheism in the former GDR , most of the population is non-religious. 21.1% are members of

1078-491: A moderate growth of approximately 0.35% per year, whereas the population in bordering rural regions is shrinking with accelerating tendency. Suburbanization played only a small role in Weimar. It occurred after the reunification for a short time in the 1990s, but most of the suburban areas were situated within the administrative city borders. The birth surplus was +3 in 2012, this is +0.0 per 1,000 inhabitants (Thuringian average: −4.5; national average: −2.4). The net migration rate

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1176-908: A new career in Dresden in 1897, with a display at the Dresden Exposition of decorative arts. His work became known in Germany through decorative arts journals, and he received several commissions for interiors in Berlin, for a villa in Chemnitz , the Folkwang Museum in Hagen , and the Nietzsche House in Weimar for Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche , the sister of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche . He settled in Weimar in 1899 and produced

1274-585: A population of 65,000. Weimar is well known because of its cultural heritage and importance in German history. The city was a focal point of the German Enlightenment and home of the leading literary figures of Weimar Classicism , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller . In the 19th century, composers such as Franz Liszt made Weimar a music centre. Later, artists and architects such as Henry van de Velde , Wassily Kandinsky , Paul Klee , Lyonel Feininger , and Walter Gropius came to

1372-500: A type face often used in Jugendstil . Another important German graphic artist was Josef Rudolf Witzel (1867–1925), who produced many early covers for Jugend , with curving, floral forms which helped shape the style. The magazine Simplicissimus , published in Munich, was also noted for its Jugendstil graphics, as well as for the modern writers it presented, including Thomas Mann and Rainer Maria Rilke . Important illustrators for

1470-552: A wide variety of decorative works, including silverware and ceramics, all in strikingly original forms. His silverware was particularly unusual: each piece had its own form, with sleek curving lines, but together they formed a harmonious ensemble. In 1902, he decorated the apartment of Count Harry Kessler , a prominent patron of the Impressionist painters. In 1905, with the patronage of the Grand Duke of Weimar, he created

1568-513: Is Thuringia's largest festival. The festival is held over 3 days and approximately 500 stalls and more than 100 stage performances are put up across the city. Weimar first celebrated the Onion Market in 1653. Stalls typically offer onion plaits, themed arts and crafts and numerous onion-based foods, including onion cakes, onion soups and onion breads. The festival also hosts numerous beer gardens , live music, fairground attractions and

1666-552: Is a city in the German state of Thuringia , in Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, 80 km (50 mi) southwest of Leipzig , 170 km (106 mi) north of Nuremberg and 170 km (106 mi) west of Dresden . Together with the neighbouring cities of Erfurt and Jena, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia, with approximately 500,000 inhabitants. The city itself has

1764-423: Is a remarkable collection of Jugendstil buildings created beginning in 1899 by Ernest Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse , a grandson of Queen Victoria, to promote both commerce and the arts. He brought together a group of designers to create his new community, including Peter Behrens , Hans Christiansen , and Joseph Maria Olbrich . The Colony architecture represented a complete break with the earlier floral style, and

1862-632: Is dedicated to the Sacred Heart and was built between 1888 and 1891 in historicist forms imitating Florence Cathedral . Another church is the Russian Orthodox Chapel within the historic cemetery. It was built in 1862 as the funerary chapel of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and was one of the first Russian-styled buildings in Germany. Interesting churches in the suburban districts are the Lutheran parish church of Gelmeroda , which

1960-535: Is done by selecting goods with specific intentions in mind to alter them. Instead of accepting a foreign object for what it is, the foreign object is incorporated and changed to fit one's lifestyle and choices, or customized . One way to achieve a customized look and feel to common objects is to change their external appearance by applying decorative techniques, as in decoupage , art cars , truck art in South Asia and IKEA hacking. Weimar Weimar

2058-629: Is estimated at 56,545. The Buchenwald concentration camp provided slave labour for local industry, including the Wilhelm-Gustloff-Werk arms factory. The city centre was partially damaged by US Air Force bombing in 1945 with some 1,800 people killed and many historic buildings destroyed. Nevertheless, most of the destroyed buildings were restored soon after the war because of their importance in German cultural history. The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Weimar in April 1945, and

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2156-553: Is it for understanding early Medieval art in Europe . During that period in Europe, fine arts such as manuscript illumination and monumental sculpture existed, but the most prestigious works tended to be in goldsmith work, in cast metals such as bronze, or in other techniques such as ivory carving . Large-scale wall-paintings were much less regarded, crudely executed, and rarely mentioned in contemporary sources. They were probably seen as an inferior substitute for mosaic , which for

2254-413: Is set around the city of Weimar. In comparison to many major German states, the dukes' policy was liberal and tolerant in this period. The liberal Saxe-Weimar constitution was brought into effect in 1816. The time after Goethe's death is denoted as the "silver" age because Weimar remained an influential cultural centre. The first emphasis was fostering music. In 1842, Franz Liszt moved to Weimar to become

2352-645: Is the Evangelical St. Peter and Paul on the Herderplatz (known as Die Herderkirche). It was rebuilt in late Gothic style after a fire around 1500. Between 1726 and 1735, the interior underwent a Baroque remodelling by Johann Adolf Richter. Johann Gottfried Herder was the dean of the church between 1766 and 1803. The second old Evangelical church of Weimar is St. James on Rollplatz, rebuilt in 1712 in Baroque style. The Roman Catholic parish church of Weimar

2450-524: The Park an der Ilm in the southeast, whereas the western and northern quarters are more basic and mixed with industrial areas in their outer parts. During the GDR period, two new Plattenbau settlements were developed in the west and the north of the city. After 1990, suburbanization occurred for a short time and the rural districts of Weimar saw significant growth as part of the larger city. The city's main church

2548-818: The Bauhaus University , the Liszt School of Music , the Duchess Anna Amalia Library , and two leading courts of Thuringia (the Supreme Administrative Court and Constitutional Court). In 1999, Weimar was the European Capital of Culture . Archaeological finds dating back to the Thuringii epoch (3rd to 6th centuries) show that the Weimar part of the Ilm valley was settled early. A tight network of settlements occupied much of

2646-648: The Evangelical Church in Central Germany and 6.8% are Catholics (according to 2011 EU census). Two World Heritage Sites converge in Weimar: Weimar has a great variety of museums: The historic city centre of Weimar is situated between the Ilm river in the east, Grabenstraße in the north, Goetheplatz and Theaterplatz in the west and Schillerstraße in the south. Its two central squares are

2744-460: The GDR period, Weststadt and Nordstadt as well as two industrial areas in the north and west. The 11 suburban districts are villages which became incorporated during the 20th century; however, they have mostly stayed rural to date: Over the centuries, Weimar remained a small town of less than 5,000 inhabitants. When it became the capital of Saxe-Weimar in 1572, population growth was stimulated and

2842-511: The Reithaus (1710s) within the Park an der Ilm . Furthermore, there are some impressive ducal country residences around Weimar. They are marked by their beautiful parks and gardens. Schloss Belvedere , south-east of Weimar was built between 1724 and 1732 in Baroque style with an orangery near to a ducal hunting forest. North-east of Weimar, at Ettersburg lies another ducal hunting lodge next to

2940-460: The Via Regia . The settlement around Saint James Church developed into a suburb during the 13th century. After becoming part of Wettin territory in 1346, urban development improved. The Wettins fostered Weimar by abolishing socage and granting privileges to the citizens. Now Weimar became equal to other Wettinian cities like Weißensee and grew during the 15th century, with the establishment of

3038-566: The Weimar School of painting with representatives such as Max Liebermann and Arnold Böcklin . The Kunstgewerbeschule Weimar was found by Henry van de Velde with the support of Grand Duke William Ernest in 1902 and represents the other root of Bauhaus , known as "Das Neue Weimar" ("The New Weimar") around Harry Graf Kessler . It was a foundation against Prussia 's restrictive arts policy favouring Historicism instead of international Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau . As early as

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3136-486: The " fine arts ", namely painting , drawing , photography , and large-scale sculpture , which generally produce objects solely for their aesthetic quality and capacity to stimulate the intellect . The distinction between the decorative and fine arts essentially arose from the post- renaissance art of the West, where the distinction is for the most part meaningful. This distinction is much less meaningful when considering

3234-574: The 1930s, the barracks in Weimar was greatly extended. One famous person serving as a soldier in Weimar was Wolfgang Borchert , later a well known poet and playwright. As it was the capital of Thuringia, the Nazis built a new Roman-fascist-style administrative centre between the city centre and the main station. This Gauforum  [ de ] , designed by Hermann Giesler , was the only Nazi governmental building completed outside Berlin (though there were plans for all German state capitals). Today it hosts

3332-541: The 19th century, the curation of Weimar and its heritage started. Many archives, societies and museums were founded to present and conserve the cultural sights and goods. In 1846, Weimar was connected by the Thuringian Railway . In the following decades, the city saw a construction and population boom (like most late-19th century cities in Germany). Nevertheless, Weimar did not become industrialised, and remained

3430-728: The Bauhaus School by a merger of the Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School with the Kunstgewerbeschule Weimar. The Bauhaus in Weimar lasted from 1919 to 1925, when it moved to Dessau , after the newly elected right-wing Thuringian council put pressure on the school by withdrawing funding and forcing its teachers to quit. Many buildings in Weimar today have influences from the Bauhaus period. However, only one original Bauhaus building

3528-650: The Belgian architect and decorator Henry van de Velde . In its earlier years, the style was influenced by the British Modern Style . It was also influenced by Japanese prints. Later, under the Secessionists ' influence, it tended toward abstraction and more geometrical forms. The movement had its origins in Munich with the founding of an association of visual artists in 1892, which broke away from

3626-539: The Century Guild for craftsmen in 1882, championing the idea that there was no meaningful difference between the fine and decorative arts. Many converts, both from professional artists' ranks and from among the intellectual class as a whole, helped spread the ideas of the movement. The influence of the Arts and Crafts movement led to the decorative arts being given a greater appreciation and status in society and this

3724-573: The Ettersberg mountain and its forest, Schloss Ettersburg . It was established between 1706 and 1711 also in Baroque style. The third summer residence, Schloss Tiefurt , is located in Tiefurt , north-east of Weimar. The small lodge in a wide park in Ilm valley was rebuilt in 1775 in late-Baroque forms. The Onion Market (Weimarer Zwiebelmarkt) is an annual festival held in October in Weimar and it

3822-566: The German government sold them to west German businessmen who closed them to avoid competition to their own enterprises. On the other hand, the federal government started early in the 1990s to subsidize the foundation of new companies, but it took long time before the economic situation got stabilized around 2006. Since this time, unemployment decreased and overall, new jobs develop. Today, there are many small and medium-sized companies in Weimar with electro-technics and engineering in focus. Nevertheless, settlement of new factories isn't much in focus of

3920-577: The Grand Ducal School of Arts and Crafts in Weimar. He created a showcase of applied arts for the Dresden Exposition of Applied Arts in 1906, decorated with paintings by Ludwig von Hofmann , intended as the main room of a new museum of decoration in Weimar. He transposed the characteristics of his silverware, dishes, and furniture into the architecture. Van de Velde left off the curling vegetal lines of Art Nouveau decoration and replaced them with much simpler, more stylized curves which were part of

4018-582: The Grand Ducal court conductor. Liszt organized the premiere of Richard Wagner 's Lohengrin (1850) as well as the world première of Saint Saëns ' opera Samson et Delilah (1877) in the city. The Weimar School of Music was founded in 1872 as Germany's first orchestra school. Richard Strauss worked in Weimar between 1889 and 1894 as second conductor in the acclaimed Staatskapelle Weimar (the court orchestra founded in 1491). Several of his encores for works such as Don Juan and Macbeth were performed by

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4116-573: The Marktplatz in the south (with the town hall) and the Herderplatz in the north (with the main church). Despite its medieval origin, there are only a few medieval buildings, many being destroyed by frequent fires throughout the city's history. Most buildings in this area date back to the 17th and 18th century. Furthermore, Weimar has two old suburbs: in the north, the Jakobsvorstadt around St. James' Church (medieval origin) and another one in

4214-590: The NSDAP came to power in Thuringia under Fritz Sauckel . In 1933, the first Nazi concentration camps were established around Weimar in Nohra (the first one in Germany) and Bad Sulza . Most prisoners at this time were communists and social democrats. After Kristallnacht in 1938, harassment of Jews became more intense, so that many of them emigrated or were arrested. The Weimar Synagogue was destroyed in 1938. During

4312-565: The Staatskapelle Weimar. He also premièred Humperdinck's opera Hänsel and Gretel 1893 in Weimar. Friedrich Nietzsche moved to Weimar in 1897, and died there three years later. In 1860 the Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School , the precursor of today's Bauhaus University , was founded. This was the beginning of academic arts education in Weimar. The institution created its own painting style,

4410-810: The Thuringian State Administration. Other Giesler buildings are the Villa Sauckel  [ de ] , the governor's palace and the Hotel Elephant  [ de ] in the city centre. In 1937, the Nazis established Buchenwald concentration camp 8 km (5.0 mi) from Weimar city centre. Between July 1938 and April 1945, some 240,000 people were incarcerated in the camp by the Nazi regime, including 168 Western Allied POWs . The number of deaths in Buchenwald

4508-554: The Weimar Atrium, the local mall. The area around Weimar is relatively fertile and 48% of the municipal surface are used for agricultural production. Most common agricultures are cereals, maize and rapeseed , while famous agricultural products from the Weimar region are potatoes (especially from Heichelheim , 7 km (4.3 mi) to the north) for dishes with Thuringian dumplings ( Knödel from potatoes), onions (from Heldrungen and Oldisleben , 45 km (28 mi) to

4606-484: The area of today's city. The oldest records regarding Weimar date to 899. Its name changed over the centuries from Wimares through Wimari to Wimar and finally Weimar; it is derived from Old High German wīh- (holy) and -mari (standing water, swamp). The place was the seat of the County of Weimar , first mentioned in 949, which was one of the most powerful jurisdictions in early Middle Ages Thuringia. In 1062 it

4704-421: The art of other cultures and periods, where the most valued works, or even all works, include those in decorative media. For example, Islamic art in many periods and places consists entirely of the decorative arts, often using geometric and plant forms , as does the art of many traditional cultures. The distinction between decorative and fine arts is not very useful for appreciating Chinese art , and neither

4802-532: The city and founded the Bauhaus movement, the most important German design school of the interwar period . The political history of 20th-century Weimar was volatile: it was the place where Germany's first democratic constitution was signed after the First World War , giving its name to the Weimar Republic (1918–33). It was also one of the cities mythologized by Nazi propaganda . Until 1948, Weimar

4900-405: The city hosted the first trilateral meeting between the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland giving its name to the Weimar Triangle format. It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996 (Bauhaus) and 1998 (Classical Weimar). The European Council of Ministers selected the city as European Capital of Culture for 1999. Tourism has become an important economic factor over

4998-403: The city surrendered to the US 80th Infantry Division on 12 April 1945. The residents of Weimar were ordered to walk through Buchenwald, to see what had been happening so close to the city, as documented in Billy Wilder 's film Death Mills . The city ended up in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany , so US troops were soon replaced by Soviet forces. From 1945 to 1950, the Soviet Union used

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5096-409: The city, so that it saw a first construction boom in the 16th century. The 17th century brought decline to Weimar, because of changing trade conditions (as in nearby Erfurt ). Besides, the territorial partitions led to the loss of political importance of the dukes of Saxe-Weimar and their finances shrunk. The city's polity weakened more and more and lost its privileges, leading to the absolutist reign of

5194-490: The city. As the Ernestines lost the Schmalkaldic War in 1547, their capital Wittenberg went also to the Albertines, so that they needed a new residence. As the ruler returned from captivity, Weimar became his residence in 1552 and remained as such until the end of the monarchy in 1918. The first Ernestine territorial partition in 1572 was followed by various ones, nevertheless Weimar stayed the capital of different Saxe-Weimar states. The court and its staff brought some wealth to

5292-601: The cost of materials or the amount of skilled work required to produce a work, but instead valued artistic imagination and the individual touch of the hand of a supremely gifted master such as Michelangelo , Raphael or Leonardo da Vinci , reviving to some extent the approach of antiquity. Most European art during the Middle Ages had been produced under a very different set of values, where both expensive materials and virtuoso displays in difficult techniques had been highly valued. In China both approaches had co-existed for many centuries: ink wash painting , mostly of landscapes ,

5390-424: The counts of Weimar founded the town, which was an independent parish since 1249 and called civitas in 1254. From 1262, the citizens used their own seal. The regional influence of the Weimar counts was declining as the influence of the Wettins in Thuringia increased. Hence, the new small town was relatively marginal in a regional context, also due to the fact that it was located far from relevant trade routes, such as

5488-458: The court's organist in Weimar. The period from the start of the regencies of Anna Amalia (1758–1775) and her son Carl August (1775–1828) through to Goethe's death in 1832 is denoted as the "golden" or the "classical" age because of the high level of cultural activity in Weimar. The city became an important cultural centre of Europe, having been home to literary figures including Goethe , Schiller , Herder , Wieland and Bertuch ; and in music

5586-402: The decades. Weimar is now a popular residence of people working in Erfurt and Jena , both less than 20 minutes away. In 2004, a fire broke out at the Duchess Anna Amalia Library . The library contains a 13,000-volume collection including Goethe's masterpiece Faust , as well as the duchess's music collection. An authentic Luther Bible from 1534 was saved from the fire. The library is one of

5684-541: The dukes in the early 18th century. On the other hand, this time brought another construction boom to Weimar, and the city got its present appearance, marked by various ducal representation buildings. The city walls were demolished in 1757 and during the following decades, Weimar expanded in all directions. The biggest building constructed in this period was the Schloss as the residence of the dukes (north and east wing: 1789–1803, west wing 1832–1835, south wing: 1913–1914). Between 1708 and 1717 Johann Sebastian Bach worked as

5782-405: The following extreme values: Weimar abuts the district of Weimarer Land with the municipalities Berlstedt , Ettersburg , Kleinobringen , Großobringen and Wohlsborn in the north, Kromsdorf , Umpferstedt and Mellingen in the east, Vollersroda , Buchfart , Hetschburg , Bad Berka and Troistedt in the south and Nohra, Daasdorf am Berge , Hopfgarten and Ottstedt am Berge in

5880-469: The imaginative details of the decoration, in spirals and curling forms, The most prominent graphic artist was Otto Eckmann , who produced numerous illustrations for the movement's journal Jugend , in a sinuous, floral style that was similar to the French style. He also created a type style based upon Japanese calligraphy. Joseph Sattler was another graphic artist who contributed to the style through another artistic journal called Pan . Sattler designed

5978-545: The magazine included Thomas Theodor Heine . The ideal of designers of the Jugendstil was to make a house a complete work of art, with everything inside, from the furniture to the carpets and the dishware, silverware and the art, in perfect harmony. With this ideal in mind, they established their own workshops to produce furniture. August Endell , Theodor Fischer , Bruno Paul , and especially Richard Riemerschmid were important figures in Jugendstil furniture. Metallwarenfabrik Straub & Schweizer (WMF) was, by 1900,

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6076-421: The more formal historical and academic styles of the Academy. Georg Hirth chose the name Munich Secession for the association. Later, the Vienna Secession , founded in 1897 and the Berlin Secession took their own names from the Munich group. The journal of the group, Jugend , begun in 1896, along with another Munich publication, Simplicissimus and Pan in Berlin, became the most visible showcases of

6174-418: The new style. The leading figures of this movement, including Peter Behrens , Bernhard Pankok , and Richard Riemerschmid , as well as the majority of the founding members of the Munich Secession, all provided illustrations to Jugend . In the beginning, the style was used primarily in illustrations and graphic arts. Jugendstil combined floral decoration and sinuous curves with more geometric lines, and soon

6272-402: The north), which are sold at Weimar Onion Market in October, and Saale-Unstrut wine from Bad Sulza , 25 km (16 mi) to the north-east. Industry has never been dominant in Weimar, nevertheless there were several big factories from different sectors until 1990. After reunification, nearly all factories got closed, either because they failed the adoption of free market economy or because

6370-457: The occupied Buchenwald concentration camp as a NKVD special 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 . In 1948, the East German government declared Erfurt as Thuringia's new capital, and Weimar lost its influence on German contemporary culture and politics. (The state of Thuringia itself

6468-444: The official art and architecture academies. It took its name from the art journal Jugend , founded by the German artist Georg Hirth . It was especially active in the graphic arts and interior decoration. Its major centers of activity were Munich and Weimar and the Darmstadt Artists' Colony founded in Darmstadt in 1901. Important figures of the movement included the Swiss graphic artist Hermann Obrist , Otto Eckmann , and

6566-407: The oldest in Europe, dating back to 1691, and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Over one million volumes were housed in the library, of which forty to fifty thousand were damaged beyond repair. A number of books were shock-frozen in Leipzig to save them from rotting. The library was reopened in 2007. Weimar is situated within the valley of the Ilm river, a tributary of the Saale river on

6664-511: The period must be considered a fine art, though in recent centuries mosaics have tended to be considered decorative. A similar fate has befallen tapestry , which late medieval and Renaissance royalty regarded as the most magnificent artform, and was certainly the most expensive. The term "ars sacra" ("sacred arts") is sometimes used for medieval christian art executed in metal, ivory, textiles, and other more valuable materials but not for rare secular works from that period. The view of decoration as

6762-420: The piano virtuoso Hummel . It has been a site of pilgrimage for the German intelligentsia since Goethe first moved to Weimar in 1775. Goethe was also active in civic duties while living there. He served as Privy Councilor to the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach for an extended period. The tombs of Goethe and Schiller, as well as their archives, may be found in the city. Goethe's Elective Affinities (1809)

6860-442: The population increased from 3,000 in 1650 to 6,000 in 1750. Around the year 1800, Weimar had 7,000 inhabitants. Their number grew constantly over the years to 13,000 in 1850, 28,000 in 1900 and 35,000 at the beginning of World War I. During the interwar period, the new capital of Thuringia saw a population boom, which led to 65,000 inhabitants in 1940. Since that time, the population levels have stagnated. The years 2009 to 2012 brought

6958-460: The rise of the Arts and Crafts movement . This aesthetic movement of the second half of the 19th century was born in England and inspired by the writings of Thomas Carlyle , John Ruskin and William Morris . The movement represented the beginning of a greater appreciation of the decorative arts throughout Europe. The appeal of the Arts and Crafts movement to a new generation led the English architect and designer Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo to organize

7056-400: The south around Frauenplan square. The majority of buildings in these areas are also of 17th- and 18th-century origin. During the late 19th and early 20th century, Weimar grew in all directions. Because of its function as an "officials' city", the houses in these areas are more substantial than in many comparable Gründerzeit quarters in Germany. The most uptown areas are those right and left of

7154-806: The south of Weimar rises up to 370 m and is part of the Ilm Saale Plate Muschelkalk formation. The eastern, central and western parts of the municipal territory are in agricultural use, whereas the Ettersberg and some southern areas are wooded. Weimar has a humid continental climate ( Dfb ) or an oceanic climate ( Cfb ) according to the Köppen climate classification system. Summers are warm and sometimes humid with average high temperatures of 23 °C (73 °F) and lows of 12 °C (54 °F). Winters are relatively cold with average high temperatures of 2 °C (36 °F) and lows of −3 °C (27 °F). The city's topography creates

7252-628: The southern border of the Thuringian Basin , a fertile agricultural area between the Harz mountains 70 km (43 mi) to the north and the Thuringian Forest 50 km (31 mi) to the southwest. The municipal terrain is hilly; the height of the city centre in the Ilm valley is approximately 200 m of elevation. To the north, the terrain rises to Ettersberg , the city's backyard mountain, 482 m in height. The range of hills in

7350-440: The structure of his buildings and decorative works. The importance of Weimar as a cultural center of the Jugendstil was ended in 1906, when its main patron, Count Harry Kessler, commissioned Rodin to make a nude statue for the Grand Duke. The Grand Duke was scandalized, and Kessler was forced to resign. The Weimar school of design lost its importance until 1919, when it returned as the Bauhaus under Walter Gropius , and played

7448-438: The symbol of the entire movement. Another prominent designer in the style was Richard Riemerschmid , who made furniture, pottery, and other decorative objects in a sober, geometric style that pointed forward toward Art Deco . The Swiss artist Hermann Obrist , living in Munich, made designs with sinuous double curves, modeled after plants and flowers, which were a prominent motif of the early style. The Darmstadt Artists' Colony

7546-482: The way to a more inclusive evaluation of the value of art objects. Modern understanding of the art of many cultures tends to be distorted by the modern privileging of fine visual arts media over others, as well as the very different survival rates of works in different media. Works in metal, above all in precious metals, are liable to be "recycled" as soon as they fall from fashion, and were often used by owners as repositories of wealth, to be melted down when extra money

7644-538: The west. The city itself is divided into 10 inner urban and 11 suburban districts. The centre is formed by the district Altstadt (old town) and the Gründerzeit districts Nordvorstadt in the north, Parkvorstadt in the east and Westvorstadt in the south and west. Later additions are Südstadt in the south and Schönblick in the southwest. Finally, there are the Plattenbau settlements, constructed during

7742-519: The world's largest producer of household metalware, mainly in the Jugendstil style, designed in the WMF Art Studio under Albert Mayer. WMF purchased Orivit, another company known for its Jugendstil pewter, in 1905. Decorative arts Applied arts largely overlap with the decorative arts, and in modern parlance they are both often placed under the umbrella category of design . The decorative arts are often categorized in distinction to

7840-463: Was AEG turbine factory in Berlin (1908–1909). Behren's assistants and students at this time included Mies van der Rohe , C. E. Jeanerette (the future Le Corbusier ), and Walter Gropius , the future head of the Bauhaus . The work of Behrens and the Werkbund effectively launched the transition from the Jugendstil to modernism in Germany, and the end of the Jugendstil . In Berlin, August Endell

7938-464: Was +4.5 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2012 (Thuringian average: -0.8; national average: +4.6). The most important regions of origin are rural areas of Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony as well as foreign countries like Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria. Like other eastern German cities, Weimar has a relatively small foreign population (compared to the German average): circa 4.0% are non-Germans by citizenship, while 7.9% have

8036-579: Was another important center of the Jugendstil , thanks largely to the Belgian architect and designer Henry van de Velde . Van de Velde had played an important role in the early Belgian Art Nouveau, building his own house and decorating it in Art Nouveau style, with the strong influence of the British Arts and Crafts Movement . He was a known in Germany for his work in Belgium and Paris, and began

8134-488: Was both editor of Pan magazine and a major figure in Jugendstil decoration, designing hotels and theaters, such as the interior of Buntes Theater in Berlin (1901), destroyed during World War II. He designed every detail of the interior down to the nails. with each room in a different color, and on a different theme. He also designed the Hackesche Höfe , a complex of buildings in the centre of Berlin, noted for

8232-554: Was built in 1703 and is the municipal library today. The neighbouring Red Castle is also part of the library and was built in the 1570s. The Wittumspalais is a smaller widow mansion near Theaterplatz, established in 1768. Outbildings of the ducal residence are the Husarenstall (1770), the later residence of Charlotte von Stein at Ackerwand street, the Marstall (1870s) at Kegelplatz, today used as Thuringian State Archive and

8330-422: Was chosen as the host city. In 1920, the federal state of Thuringia was founded by an association of eight former microstates (Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Saxe-Gotha , Saxe-Altenburg , Saxe-Meiningen , Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt , Schwarzburg-Sondershausen , Reuss-Gera and Reuss-Greiz ) and Weimar became its capital. Due to that fact, the city experienced another period of growth. In 1919, Walter Gropius founded

8428-587: Was considered too dangerous for the National Assembly to use as a meeting place because of street rioting during the Spartacist uprising . Reich President Friedrich Ebert favored Weimar because he hoped it would remind the victorious Allies of Weimar Classicism while they were deliberating the terms of the Treaty of Versailles . Since the calm and centrally located Weimar had a suitable place of assembly (the theatre ), hotels and infrastructure, it

8526-523: Was constructed during 1919–1925, the Haus am Horn , now used for exhibitions and events on Bauhaus culture. The Weimar Republic era was marked by a constant conflict between progressive and Völkisch forces, the former represented by Harry Graf Kessler and the latter by Adolf Bartels in Weimar. The Weimarer Zeitung was published in Weimar as a local newspaper. After 1929, the right-wing forces prevailed and Weimar became an early centre of Nazism . Weimar

8624-741: Was dissolved in 1952 and replaced by three Bezirke (districts) in a local government reform; Weimar belonged to the Bezirk of Erfurt.) The city was the headquarters of the Soviet Union's 8th Guards Army as part of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany . Due to its fame and importance for tourism, Weimar received more financial subsidies from the GDR government and remained in better condition than most East German cities. After German reunification in 1990, Weimar experienced significant economic hardship, but funding restored much that had deteriorated. In 1991,

8722-492: Was important to the Nazis for two reasons: first, it was where the hated Weimar Republic was founded, and second, it had been a centre of German high culture in recent centuries. In 1926, the NSDAP held its party convention in Weimar. Adolf Hitler visited Weimar more than forty times prior to 1933. In 1930, Wilhelm Frick became minister for internal affairs and education in Thuringia – the first NSDAP minister in Germany. In 1932,

8820-575: Was invited to participate in the Darmstadt Artists' Colony , where he designed his own house and all of its contents, including the furniture, towels and dishes. After 1900 he became involved in industrial design and the reform of architecture to more functional forms. In 1902, he participated in the Turin International Exposition, one of the first major Europe-wide showcases of Art Nouveau. In 1907, Behrens and

8918-610: Was much bolder in its design. Behrens and several of the other architects built their own houses there, and designed every detail, from the doorknobs to the dishes. The most impressive building of the Colony is the Ernst-Ludwig House, named for the Grand Duke, which contained the workshops of the artists. It was designed by Olbrich, with an entrance in the form of a three-quarter circle, flanked by two statues, Force and Beauty , by Ludwig Habich (1901). The city of Weimar

9016-567: Was needed. Illuminated manuscripts have a much higher survival rate, especially in the hands of the church, as there was little value in the materials and they were easy to store. The promotion of the fine arts over the decorative in European thought can largely be traced to the Renaissance, when Italian theorists such as Vasari promoted artistic values, exemplified by the artists of the High Renaissance , that placed little value on

9114-678: Was soon reflected by changes in the law. Until the enactment of the Copyright Act 1911 only works of fine art had been protected from unauthorized copying. The 1911 Act extended the definition of an "artistic work" to include works of "artistic craftsmanship". In the context of mass production and consumerism some individuals will attempt to create or maintain their lifestyle or to construct their identity when forced to accept mass-produced identical objects in their life. According to Colin Campbell in his piece “The Craft Consumer”, this

9212-508: Was the capital of Thuringia. Many places in the city centre have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites , either as part of the Classical Weimar complex (containing monuments to the classical period of Weimar in 18th and 19th centuries) or the Bauhaus complex (containing buildings associated with the Bauhaus art school). Heritage tourism is one of the leading economic sectors of Weimar. Noted institutions in Weimar are

9310-468: Was the inspiration for many paintings by Lyonel Feininger , and the Lutheran parish church of Oberweimar , which was a former monastery, and is a good example of Gothic architecture in Weimar. Due to its function as a ducal residence, Weimar is rich in early-modern castles and palaces. The biggest one is the Stadtschloss at Burgplatz in the city centre. Today's four-wing building was started after

9408-448: Was to a large extent produced by and for the scholar-bureaucrats or "literati", and was intended as an expression of the artist's imagination above all, while other major fields of art, including the very important Chinese ceramics produced in effectively industrial conditions, were produced according to a completely different set of artistic values. The lower status given to works of decorative art in contrast to fine art narrowed with

9506-651: Was united with the County of Orlamünde into the new County of Weimar-Orlamünde, which existed until the Thuringian Counts' War in 1346. It fell to the Wettins afterwards. The Weimar settlement emerged around the count's wooden castle and two small churches, dedicated to Saint Peter (which later became the main church), and to Saint James , respectively. In 1240, the count founded the dynasty's monastery in Oberweimar, run by Cistercian nuns. Soon after,

9604-481: Was used for covers of novels, advertisements, and exhibition posters. Designers often created original styles of typeface that worked harmoniously with the image, such as the Arnold Böcklin typeface created in 1904. Otto Eckmann was one of the most prominent German artists associated with both Jugend and Pan . His favourite animal was the swan, and so great was his influence that the swan came to serve as

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