Weimar Archives Editorial Image

The Weimar Archives are located across from the Weimar City Palace (left). The city of Weimar in the federal state of Thuringia, Germany, is well known for its rich cultural heritage and its importance in German history. Weimar was a focal point of the German Enlightenment and home of the leading characters of the literary genre of Weimar Classicism, the writers Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller. In the 19th century, famous composers like Franz Liszt made a music center of Weimar and later, artists and architects like Henry van de Velde, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger and Walter Gropius came to the city and founded the Bauhaus movement. It also was the place where Germanys first democratic constitution was signed after the First World War, giving its name to the Weimar Republic period in German politics (1918–1933).