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Visit Weimar on World Poetry Day

March 21, 2016

Goethe and Schiller lived in Weimar - and found their inspiration there. What better time than World Poetry Day to pay a visit to the historical Thuringian city.

Goethe and Schiller Archive in Weimar, Copyright: picture-alliance/dpa/Martin Schutt
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Martin Schutt

Thanks to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's friendship with Duke Charles Augustus, Weimar became a flourishing center of the arts in the 18th century. Even today, two-and-a-half centuries after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's death, Weimar bears many traces of Germany's most famous poet.

Goethe spent 50 years in his house on Frauenplan, which is now part of the National Museum named after him. The stunning Duchess Anna Amalia Library, which now houses one million books, was once supervised by Goethe himself. The Park on the Ilm provided the poet with visual inspiration, as his garden house overlooked it.

Weimar, however, was not just a muse for Goethe, but also for writer Friedrich Schiller, a representative of Weimar Classicism, as well as composer Franz Liszt. Watch the video below for an up-close look at the poetic city of Weimar:

Weimar – Goethe, Schiller & Co

04:58

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Weimar is located in the eastern-central German state of Thuringia, close to other historical cities like Erfurt, Eisenach and Jena. Click through the gallery for a look at the region, which has inspired poets, artists and musicians for centuries:

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