The reign of Goethe’s friend and patron, the grand-duke Charles Augustus (1775-1828), represents accurately enough the golden age of Weimar; though even during the duke’s minority, his mother, the duchess Amalia, had begun to make the little court a focus of light and leading in Germany. The most striking building in Weimar is the extensive palace, erected for Charles Augustus under the superintendence of Goethe in 1789- 1803, in place of one burned down in 1770. This building, with the associations of its erection, and its “poets’ rooms,” dedicated to Goethe, Schiller, Herder, and Wieland, epitomizes the characteristics of the town. The main interest of Weimar centres in these men and their more or less illustrious contemporaries; and, above all, Goethe, whose altar to the “genius hujus loci” still stands in the ducal park, is himself the genius of the place, just as Shakespeare is of Stratford-on-Avon, or Luther of Wittenberg. Goethe’s residence from 1782 to 1832 (now opened as a “Goethe museum,” with his collections and other reminiscences), the simple “garden-house” in the park, where he spent many summers, Schiller’s humble abode, where he lived from 1802 till his death in 1805, and the grand-ducal burial vault, where the two poets rest side by side, are among the most frequented pilgrim resorts in Germany. Rietschel's bronze group of Goethe and Schiller (unveiled in 1857) stands appropriately in front of the theatre (much altered in 1868) which attained such distinction under their combined auspices. Not far off is the large and clumsy parish church, built about 1400, of which Herder became pastor in 1776; close to the church is his statue, and his house is still the parsonage. Within the church are the tombs of Herder and of Duke Bernhard of Weimar, the hero of the Thirty Years’ War. The altar-piece—a Crucifixion—is said to be the masterpiece of Lucas Cranach, whose house is pointed out in the market-place. Wieland, who came to Weimar in 1772 as the duke’s tutor, is also commemorated by a statue, and his house is indicated by a tablet. Among the other prominent buildings in Weimar are the library, containing 200,000 volumes and a valuable collection of portraits, busts, and literary and other curiosities; the museum, built in 1863-68 in the Renaissance style; the ancient church of St James, with the tombs of Lucas Cranach and Musaeus; and the townhouse, built in 1841. Various points in the environs of Weimar are also interesting from their associations. Separated from the town by the park, laid out in the so-called English style by Goethe, is the chateau of Belvedere, built in 1724. To the north-east is Tiefurt, often the scene of al-fresco plays, in which the courtiers were the actors and the rocks and trees the scenery; and to the north-west is the chateau of Ettersburg, another favourite resort of Charles Augustus and his court.

The history of Weimar, apart from its brilliant record at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, is of comparatively little interest. The town is said to have existed in the 9th century, and in the 10th to have belonged to a collateral branch of the family of the counts of Orlamiinde. About 1376 it fell to the landgraves of Thuringia, and in 1440 it passed to the electors of Saxony. In 1806 it was visited by Napoleon, whose half-formed intention of abolishing the duchy was only averted by the tact and address of the duchess Luise. The Muses have never left Weimar. Since 1860 it has been the seat of a good school of painting, represented by the landscape painters Preller, Kalckreuth, and Max Schmidt, and the historical painters Pauwels, Heumann, and Verlat. The frequent residence here also of the Abbé Liszt, from 1848 till his death in 1886, has preserved for Weimar quite an important place in the musical world.