Set over seven rooms in the centre of town, the Weimar Haus is a history museum for people who are bored by history museums. Sets, sound and light effects, wax figures and even an animatronic Goethe accompany you on your 30-minute journey into Thuringia’s past, from prehistory to the Enlightenment. The production values can be comical, but the entertainment factor is inarguably high.
Weimar Haus
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
4.39 MILES
Between 1937 and 1945, hidden from Weimarers and surrounding villagers, 250,000 men, women and children were incarcerated here, some 56,500 of whom were…
27.3 MILES
This horseshoe-shaped palace, surviving in exemplary condition as the largest early baroque palace in Germany, is a lavish, creaky-floored delight. Much…
Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek
0.22 MILES
Assembled by Duchess Anna Amalia (1739–1807), the power (and purse) behind Weimar's classical florescence, this Unesco-listed library has been beautifully…
13.47 MILES
Situated on the Petersberg hill northwest of Domplatz, this 36-hectare citadel ranks among Europe’s largest and best-preserved baroque fortresses. While…
25.15 MILES
This large medieval castle on the hill above town is one of Freyburg’s highlights. It houses an excellent museum that illuminates various aspects of…
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15.05 MILES
About 15km north of Jena, you'll find this hillside trilogy of magnificently restored palaces in medieval, Renaissance and rococo styles, with stunning…
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13.29 MILES
Erfurt's cathedral, where Martin Luther was ordained a priest, grew over the centuries from a simple 8th-century chapel into the stately Gothic pile of…
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0.12 MILES
This is the world's leading museum on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Germany's literary colossus. It incorporates his home of 50 years, gifted by Duke Carl…
Nearby attractions
1. Schillers Wohnhaus & Museum
0.03 MILES
The poet and dramatist Friedrich von Schiller (a close friend of Goethe) lived here from 1802 until his early death, in 1805. Study up on the man, his…
0.05 MILES
This handsome neoclassical palace was home to the Duchess Anna Amalia from 1774, after the residential palace (today the Schlossmuseum) burned. Visitors…
0.09 MILES
Dedicated in 1857, sculptor Ernst Rietschel's bronze statue of Goethe and Schiller, standing side by side holding a laurel wreath, was Germany's first …
0.12 MILES
This is the world's leading museum on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Germany's literary colossus. It incorporates his home of 50 years, gifted by Duke Carl…
5. Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek
0.22 MILES
Assembled by Duchess Anna Amalia (1739–1807), the power (and purse) behind Weimar's classical florescence, this Unesco-listed library has been beautifully…
0.23 MILES
Situated in the former residential palace, which was rebuilt in 1789–1803 after a fire, the Schlossmuseum houses works of art dating from the Middle Ages…
7. Thuriningian Museum of Pre- & Ancient History
0.26 MILES
Four-hundred-thousand years of Thurinigian history and prehistory are entertainingly charted in this multistorey museum, including remains of proto-humans…
0.29 MILES
Weimar's expertly curated city museum occupies the handsome late 18th-century Bertuchaus, named for the publisher and entrepreneur who built it. The story…