The Altenburg
About This Site
The house where Liszt actually lived while he was running Weimar's musical life — not the small summer place the tour buses stop at, but the one where the circle met.
The other Liszt house, 1810–1848
Weimar has two Liszt addresses and the famous one is the wrong one for this part of the story. The Altenburg, built in 1810–11, is where Liszt lived from 1848 with Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein[1] — through the years of the Hofkapellmeister post, the Wagner premieres and the students. The Liszt-Haus at the park's edge came later and only for the summers. If you want the address the music came out of, it is this one, on Jenaer Straße beyond the Ilm park and outside the tourist centre.
A house that became a meeting place
The Hochschule's own account puts it well: the musician's energetic artistic and political commitment, together with the social pull of his noble friends, soon made the Altenburg a centre for the exchange of ideas.[1] That is the mechanism by which a small residence town acquired a European circle — not an institution or a programme, but two people's household with the door open.
What is in it now, 1995–2018
The Hochschule für Musik FRANZ LISZT calls it a city palace of cultural and historical importance, renovated in stages from 1995–97 and turned over to the university.[2] It is in daily use: the president's office, the international office and academic administration occupy much of it. For a visitor the point is the first floor, which holds the Liszt-Salon — three interconnected rooms in blue, red and white, which hosted concerts and cultural and political events until 2018[2] — the permanent exhibition "Liszt, die Altenburg und Europa", and the Franz-Liszt-Centre. The house works as a centre for Liszt research and a meeting place for musicians, which is closer to what it was in 1850 than a museum would be.
Questions visitors ask
- Which Liszt house is this?
- Not the one the tour buses stop at. Built in 1810–11, the Altenburg is where Liszt actually lived from 1848 with Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein, through the Hofkapellmeister years, the Wagner premieres and the students.[1] The Liszt-Haus at the park's edge came later and only for the summers.
- What is the building today?
- The Hochschule für Musik FRANZ LISZT, which calls it a city palace of cultural and historical importance, renovated in stages from 1995–97.[2] The president's office, international office and academic administration occupy much of it.
- What's the Liszt-Salon?
- Three interconnected rooms on the first floor, in blue, red and white, which hosted concerts and cultural and political events until 2018.[2]
- Can I visit?
- It's a working university building, not a museum with fixed opening hours.
Sources
- The Altenburg — Hochschule für Musik FRANZ LISZT Weimar, retrieved 29 August 2026
- Franz Liszt Centre — Hochschule für Musik FRANZ LISZT Weimar, retrieved 29 August 2026
Connected Historical Figures
composer • pianist • conductor
His Weimar home from 1848, through the whole of his time as Hofkapellmeister — the productive address, not the memorial one.
princess • writer
She shared the house with him from 1848; the household the two of them kept is what drew the circle here.
Visit Information
Part of the Hochschule für Musik FRANZ LISZT; the Liszt-Salon and the permanent exhibition are on the first floor.
A working university building rather than a museum — consult the Hochschule für Musik's page before visiting (checked 29 August 2026).
Jenaer Straße 3, 99425 Weimar
In Weimar's history
Historical periods
The room the period's musical life actually happened in, as opposed to the stage it was performed on.
Goethe died in 1832, and Weimar had to work out what a town does after its golden age. It decided to keep going, and the answer took eighty-six years — the era the Klassik Stiftung Weimar calls the Silver Age. Music replaced literature as the thing Weimar was for, two royal patrons paid for it, and the schools they founded outlived the monarchy that funded them.
Stages and venues
Platz der Demokratie 2 | 3, 99423 Weimar
The Hochschule occupies the building today and keeps the Liszt-Salon, the permanent exhibition and the Franz-Liszt-Centre in it.