Tavern on the Lahn (Dausenau)
The Wirtshaus an der Lahn is an inn on the banks of the Lahn in Dausenau and supposedly the scene of the legendary landlady verses .
There are numerous inns along the Lahn, some of which bear this name from historical times. Some of them claim to be the "real" inn on the Lahn from the famous song. Historically, the inn on the Lahn in Lahnstein and the inn in Dausenau come into consideration here .
The inn on the Lahn in Dausenau is located in an old half-timbered house directly on the Lahn bank of the Lahnort. Well protected by the historic city wall of Dausenau, which is still largely preserved today, it offered boatmen and carters a safe stop for the night. Evidence of catering for the troops from the Thirty Years' War testify to the 350-year history of this house.
Goethe also passed this inn more than half a dozen times on his travels between 1774 and 1815, and the following is said to have happened here: Goethe was sitting at the table and drinking spritzer, which is why the gentlemen sitting at the next table mocked him. Then Goethe scribbled the following verse on the table top, which you could read under a glass plate until 1935:
Water alone makes you mute,
as the fish in the brook show.
Wine alone makes you stupid,
see the gentlemen at the table.
Since I don't want to be either,
I drink water with wine.
Web links
- Website of the inn on the Lahn in Dausenau ( Memento from December 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
Coordinates: 50 ° 19 ′ 43.5 ″ N , 7 ° 45 ′ 37 ″ E