Is Zum Goethebrunnen connected to Goethe?

By its address and its name: it stands at Frauenplan 13, directly across the square from Goethe's house at number 1, and it is named after the Goethebrunnen, the cast-iron fountain of 1822 in front of it.

Every day from 11:00, with no closing day; the kitchen serves from 11:00 to 22:00.

What kind of food does it serve?

Thuringian and traditional German home cooking, in a Gaststätte restored between 1995 and 1998.

Why is it called the Schmales Handtuch?

The narrow towel is the house's old Weimar nickname, which it kept when it reopened after the restoration of 1995 to 1998.

Zum Goethebrunnen

Name: Zum Goethebrunnen
Address: Frauenplan 13, Weimar, 99423, DE
Telephone: 03643/4438375

Contact & Visit

Address

Frauenplan 13
99423 Weimar

Phone

03643/4438375

Opening Hours

Daily from 11:00, no closing day; kitchen 11:00–22:00

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About Zum Goethebrunnen

Zum Goethebrunnen is a Thuringian Gaststätte at Frauenplan 13, in one of the oldest houses on the square and directly across from Goethe's house. It takes its name from the fountain in front of it, cast in iron in 1822 to a design by Coudray, and its kitchen serves Thuringian home cooking from eleven in the morning until ten at night, seven days a week. Restored between 1995 and 1998, the house still goes by its old Weimar nickname, the Schmales Handtuch.

The house and the fountain, 1822–1998

The house stands on the square in front of what was once the Frauentor, the strongest gate in the medieval town wall, and it is one of the oldest dwellings there, built over a low vaulted cellar. The fountain it is named after is one of the oldest in Weimar: its wooden trough, patched up one last time in 1820, was replaced in 1822 by the cast-iron fountain that stands there today, designed by Clemens Wenzeslaus Coudray, the grand duchy's chief architect. After a thorough restoration from 1995 to 1998 the house reopened as a Gaststätte with Thuringian cooking, under the nickname Weimar had long given it, the Schmales Handtuch — the narrow towel.

Across from Goethe, 1709–1832

The Frauenplan is Weimar's most famous address because of the house across the square: built in 1709 in plain baroque for the stocking manufacturer Georg Caspar Helmershausen, probably to designs by the court architect Johann Mützel, it became Goethe's home in 1782, first rented and from 1794 a gift of Duke Carl August, and he lived and worked in it until his death in 1832. A table at the Goethebrunnen looks straight at it.

Innkeepers, 1886–1907

The building file for Frauenplan 13 begins on 8 July 1837, and from 1837 to 1919 the square itself was called Goetheplatz. Around 1886 the inn belonged to a family Steiniger; in January 1907 the innkeeper Max Baumann from Tiefurt bought it and ran it with his wife Emilie.

Questions visitors ask

Is Zum Goethebrunnen connected to Goethe?: By its address and its name: it stands at Frauenplan 13, directly across the square from Goethe's house at number 1, and it is named after the Goethebrunnen, the cast-iron fountain of 1822 in front of it.
When is it open?: Every day from 11:00, with no closing day; the kitchen serves from 11:00 to 22:00.
What kind of food does it serve?: Thuringian and traditional German home cooking, in a Gaststätte restored between 1995 and 1998.
Why is it called the Schmales Handtuch?: The narrow towel is the house's old Weimar nickname, which it kept when it reopened after the restoration of 1995 to 1998.