Weimar historical cemetery

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Tombs on the west side of the historical cemetery
German version of the World Heritage emblem

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

Memorial hall for the Weimar people who died in the First World War
The Lindenallee leads directly to the Fürstengruft in the center of the area
Princely crypt with adjoining Russian Orthodox chapel
Administration building
Euphrosyne Monument in the Historic Cemetery
Mourning hall
Cemetery (panorama picture)

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 .

  • Overview plans

  • before 1835

  • 1859 - expansion

  • 1907

  • 2015

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

"Memorial to the March Fallen" by Walter Gropius (1922)

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
The oak coffins of the two poets Goethe and Schiller laid out side by side in the royal 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

Gravesite of the Goethe family
Gravesite of Charlotte von Stein, the portrait medallion was created by the sculptor Adolf von Donndorf
Tomb of the composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel
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
Grave cross of the writer and librarian Christian August Vulpius (brother of Christiane von Goethe)

More graves in the cemetery

Honorary grave field of the city of Weimar

Gravestone of the German conductor Hermann Abendroth
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

Web links

Commons : Historischer Friedhof Weimar  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ′ 21 ″  N , 11 ° 19 ′ 32 ″  E