Weimar historical cemetery
The historical cemetery in Weimar is one of the most visited cemeteries in Germany. The graves of numerous well-known personalities can be found here. The cemetery, opened in 1818, is a park with old trees and is located on a hill in the southwest of the city next to the Poseck Gardens. The most important sight is the Weimar Princely Crypt with the coffins of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller .
In 1998 the UNESCO declared the historical cemetery belonging to the Weimar Classic Foundation together with the princely crypt as part of the “ Classic Weimar ” ensemble as a World Heritage Site.
history
When the space in the old Jakobskirchhof around the Weimar Jakobskirche was no longer sufficient, the "New Cemetery in front of the Frauentore" was laid out between 1814 and 1818 in the Poseck Garden in the southwestern part of the city. The inauguration took place on March 20, 1818. From 1862 it was expanded to the “main cemetery” of Weimar with major expansions to the south and west. The oldest, park-like part of the cemetery in the north is still referred to as the “historical cemetery” today. In order to preserve its appearance, no more funerals take place north of the princely crypt.
Plant and structures
Directly on the left-hand side behind the main entrance at Poseckschen Garten is a neo-Romanesque stone building that was built as a burial hall in 1878/79, but was redesigned in 1921 as a “memorial hall” for those who fell in the First World War (1914–1918) in Weimar.
From the main entrance, in the form of a straight central axis, an avenue of linden trees rising slightly to the south leads up to the prince's crypt and Russian-Orthodox chapel, which together form the center of the entire cemetery area on a hill.
The Weimar Princely Crypt was used exclusively as the burial place of the grand ducal house of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach , with the exception of the two great poets Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller , who were also buried here at the request of Grand Duke Carl August , in order to also in death with the Grand Duke to be united.
On the back wall of the royal crypt is the Russian Orthodox Chapel , which was built over her grave at the request of Grand Duchess Maria Pawlowna (daughter of Russian Tsar Paul I and wife of Grand Duke Carl Friedrich of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach ).
Further tombs and funerary chapels of wealthy Weimar families can be found along the surrounding cemetery walls. Together with the plantings and the old trees of the park, they form a dignified frame for the royal crypt.
Community graves in the main cemetery commemorate the Buchenwald concentration camp and the victims of the bombing raids on Weimar during the Second World War .
Monuments
Euphrosyne Monument
To the south behind the Russian Orthodox Chapel, in the middle of the burial ground of the Marie-Seebach-Stift, is the " Euphrosyne Monument ", which commemorates the actress Christiane Becker-Neumann , who died in 1797 at the age of 18 . However, she was buried in the Jakobsfriedhof in Weimar. The monument, adorned with masks, dancing nymphs and zodiac signs, was created by the Gotha sculptor Friedrich Wilhelm Döll at Goethe's suggestion and based on a design by Johann Heinrich Meyer . Goethe had last seen the actress on stage as Euphrosyne in Joseph Weigl's opera “Das Petermännchen” and in 1797 wrote the elegy of the same name “Euphrosyne” in her memory after her death. From 1800 the memorial stood opposite the castle and was only erected in the historical cemetery in 1945.
Memorial to those who fell in March
At the historical cemetery in Weimar there is also the “Memorial to the March Fallen” , which the then director of the Bauhaus Walter Gropius created on behalf of the union cartel in memory of the people who paid with their lives to overthrow the right-wing Kapp putsch in 1920. When Weimar workers gathered for a rally in the Volkshaus on March 15 during the general strike , putsch soldiers of the Reichswehr shot them and killed Anna Braun, Walter Hoffmann, Franz Pawelski, Paul Schander, Adolf Schelle, Karl Schorn, Karl Merkel and Ernst Müller and Kurt Krassan. There is also a memorial plaque for these victims in front of the Volkshaus.
Seven of the victims were initially buried in the northern part of the historical cemetery and one year later reburied at the site of the memorial. The concrete monument, with its expressionistic character, whose abstract form, according to its creator's words, represents a “bolt of lightning from the grave floor as a symbol of the living spirit” - and therefore also bears the nickname Gropiusblitz - was unveiled on May 1, 1922. The seven grave slabs of the victims are attached to the sculpture known as “Frozen Lightning”. Since the memory of the “red soldiers who fell in March ” was undesirable under National Socialism and the modern design of the monument was considered “ degenerate art ”, it was destroyed in February 1936. The lightning bolt was blown and a column well was built opposite the remaining burial ground. In 1946 the monument was reconstructed in a slightly different form. The first anniversary of the liberation of Buchenwald concentration camp was celebrated here. Historical photos on site today show the original condition of the monument.
Graves of well-known personalities
On the area of the "Historic Cemetery" in Weimar are the graves of the following personalities (sorted by location and year of death):
Princely Crypt (selection)
- Main article: Weimar Princely Crypt
Surname | Life dates | activity |
---|---|---|
Anna Dorothea of Saxe-Weimar | 1657-1704 | Princess and Abbess of the Quedlinburg Imperial Monastery |
Johann Ernst III. | 1664-1707 | Duke of Saxe-Weimar |
Friedrich von Schiller (only symbolic empty coffin, real grave unknown) | 1759-1805 | Poet, philosopher and historian |
Carl August of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach | 1757-1828 | Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach |
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | 1749-1832 | Poet, scientist and politician |
Karl August of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach | 1844-1894 | Hereditary Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach |
Pauline of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach | 1852-1904 | Princess and Hereditary Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach |
Crypt of the Russian Orthodox Chapel
Surname | Life dates | activity |
---|---|---|
Maria Pavlovna | 1786-1859 | Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, daughter of the Russian Tsar Paul I. |
Graves along the western cemetery wall
Surname | Life dates | activity |
---|---|---|
Franz Kirms | 1750-1826 | Hofkammerrat, theater director, flower lover |
Johannes Daniel Falk | 1768-1826 | Theologian, writer, hymn poet, educator |
Charlotte von Stein | 1742-1827 | Court lady, lover and close confidante of Goethe |
Johann Nepomuk Hummel | 1778-1837 | Piano virtuoso, composer, student of WA Mozart , court conductor |
Eleonore Maximiliane Ottilie Henckel von Donnersmarck | 1756-1843 | Oberhofmeisterin Maria Pavlovna and great-grandmother of Goethe's grandchildren |
Clemens Wenzeslaus Coudray | 1775-1845 | Court architect and chief building director |
Ludwig Friedrich von Froriep | 1779-1847 | Surgeon, chief medical officer, university professor and publisher |
Johann Friedrich Röhr | 1777-1848 | Doctor of theology, general superintendent and court preacher |
Friedrich von Müller | 1779-1849 | State Chancellor of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach, a close friend of Goethe |
Carl Leberecht Schwabe | 1778-1851 | Councilor and former mayor of Weimar |
Louise Seidler | 1786-1866 | Court painter, confidante of Goethe |
Carl August Schwerdgeburth | 1785-1888 | Court copper engraver, teacher at the Princely Free Drawing School |
Graves along the eastern cemetery wall
Surname | Life dates | activity |
---|---|---|
Anna Dillon | 1760-1823 | Lady in waiting of the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, b. in England |
Christine Kotzebue | 1736-1828 | Mother of August von Kotzebue |
Wilhelm Ernst Christian Huschke | 1760-1828 | Personal physician to the Grand Dukes Karl Friedrich and Karl Alexander , Privy Councilor, Wieland's family doctor |
Johann Friedrich Karl Huschke | 1796-1883 | Personal physician to the Grand Dukes Karl Friedrich and Karl Alexander |
Pius Alexander Wolff | 1782-1828 | Actor and writer |
Johann Heinrich Meyer | 1760-1832 | Painter, art writer, director of the Princely Free Drawing School , friend of Goethe |
Karl Ludwig Oels | 1771-1833 | actor |
Johann Joseph Schmeller | 1796-1841 | Painter (considered to be Goethe's house painter) |
Friedrich Wilhelm Riemer | 1774-1845 | Philologist, writer, librarian, Privy Councilor, Goethe's secretary |
Franz Carl Adelbert Eberwein | 1786-1868 | Music director and conductor |
Angelica Bellonata Facius | 1806-1887 | Sculptor (student of Christian Daniel Rauch ), medalist and gem cutter |
Graves in the vicinity of the royal crypt
Surname | Life dates | activity |
---|---|---|
Francois-René Le Goullon | 1757-1839 | Master chef, mouth cook of the Duchess Anna Amalia , innkeeper, hotelier |
Johann Peter Eckermann | 1792-1854 | Poet, teacher, close confidante of Goethe |
Constanze Countess von Fritzsch | 1781-1858 | Grand Ducal Chief Steward |
Stefan Sabinin | 1789-1863 | Archpriest, confessor of Maria Pavlovna |
Max Hecker | 1870-1948 | Philologist, literary historian, archivist |
More graves in the cemetery
- Karl von Conta (1778–1850), politician, friend of Goethe
- Alfred Götze (1865–1948), prehistoric scientist
- Horst Jahresling (1922–2013), painter , architecture restorer , bell designer and scribbler
- Franz Markau (1881–1968), artist and painter
- August Momber (1886–1969), actor and director
- Friedrich Preller the Elder (1804–1878), painter, etcher, professor at the Princely Free Drawing School
- Reinhard Scheer (1863–1928), German admiral
- Paul Schultze-Naumburg (1869–1949) architect, art theorist, painter and publicist
- Christian August Vulpius (1762–1827), writer, librarian, translator
- Ernst von Wildenbruch (1845–1909), writer and diplomat
Honorary grave field of the city of Weimar
Surname | Life dates | activity |
---|---|---|
Werner Deetjen | 1877-1939 | Germanist and librarian |
Peter Raabe | 1872-1945 | Conductor, musicologist and Nazi cultural politician |
Eduard Scheidemantel | 1862-1945 | Chairman of the German Schiller Federation , director of the Schiller House |
Max Hecker | 1870-1948 | Goethe philologist, editor of the yearbook of the Goethe Society |
Gustav Kiepenheuer | 1880-1949 | Booksellers and publishers |
Hans Wahl | 1885-1949 | Goethe researcher , museum and archive director |
Albert Schaefer-Ast | 1890-1951 | Draftsman and caricaturist |
Heinrich Lilienfein | 1879-1952 | Writer, General Secretary of the German Schiller Foundation |
Hermann Abendroth | 1883-1956 | Conductor and Gewandhaus Kapellmeister |
Louis Fürnberg | 1909-1957 | Writer, poet and composer |
Walther Victor | 1895-1971 | Germanist, publicist, writer, editor |
Other historical graves in Weimar
The “historical cemetery” is not the only cemetery in Weimar with historical graves. Another, much smaller cemetery is the "Jacobsfriedhof" (also Jakobskirchhof ) on the northern edge of the Weimar inner city ring with the cash register (Friedrich Schiller's first grave) and graves of well-known personalities such as Lucas Cranach the Elder . This has existed since the 12th century, making it the oldest of all cemeteries in Weimar. Other historical cemeteries that are no longer buried are the “Jewish cemetery” , a small grave complex on the corner of Leibnizallee / Musäusstraße, which was only used from 1775 to 1892 and is now a cultural monument , and the “Soviet cemetery” in the park the Ilm , which was established in June 1945 as the “Red Army Memorial Cemetery” and houses over 640 Soviet military personnel who were killed in the Second World War. A second Soviet cemetery was later laid out in the Belvedere Palace Park , which was under Russian administration until the troops withdrew in 1994.
See also
literature
- Ilse-Sibylle Stapff: Historic graves in Weimar. Jakobskirche, Jakobsfriedhof and historical cemetery. Wartburg Verlag, Weimar 2004, ISBN 978-3-86160-157-9 .
- Klaus-Jürgen Winkler, Herman van Bergeijk: The monument to the fallen in March. Publishing house of the Bauhaus University Weimar, Weimar 2004, ISBN 978-3-86068-228-9 .
- Gertrud Ranft: Historic graves from Weimar's classical times. Publisher: National Research Centers and Memorials of Classical German Literature in Weimar , 5th edition, Weimar 1990, 95 pages, ISBN 3-7443-0010-2
Web links
- Website of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar about the princely crypt with the Russian Orthodox chapel
- Side of the city over the cemeteries in Weimar
- Page “Weimar under National Socialism” with explanations on the main cemetery, crematorium, honor grove and memorial for those who fell in March
- Brief description and photo of the memorial for those who fell in March 1920 at thüringen-tourismus.de
- Site of the Green Elective Affinities Association on cemeteries in Weimar
- Historical cemetery - A place of reflection in Weimar presented by Florian Russi
Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ′ 21 ″ N , 11 ° 19 ′ 32 ″ E