Bachhaus Eisenach
About This Site
The Neue Bachgesellschaft opened the Bachhaus on 27 May 1907, the first museum ever built for Johann Sebastian Bach — a half-timbered house of 1456 that nineteenth-century tradition named as his birthplace.[1] Over 300 original exhibits fill 600 square metres, and five baroque keyboard instruments are played live, on the hour, in the Instrumentensaal.
The house Eisenach names for his birth, 1857–1868
Local tradition and the Bach biographer Carl Hermann Bitter identified this half-timbered house of 1456 as Bach's birthplace in 1857; a plaque followed in 1868. Municipal tax records later placed his father's property on the Fleischgasse, about a hundred metres away, and no document fixes the exact address with certainty — the museum itself now describes the building as Bach's presumed birthplace rather than his documented one, and the identification is the reason the world's first Bach museum stands on this spot.[2]
Instruments played, not only shown
The house holds two organs — one from around 1650, one from around 1750 — a clavichord, a Silbermann harpsichord and a further harpsichord, and every one of them is played for visitors in a short concert on the hour in the Instrumentensaal. Period rooms furnished as a bedroom, living room and kitchen sit alongside a reconstruction of Bach's theological library and the still-unexplained "Bach-Pokal", a cup among the collection's more curious pieces.
A museum in its own right, since 1900
The Neue Bachgesellschaft, founded in 1900 and today some 3,000 members worldwide, still owns the building and the collection. Its exhibition design has won an ADC Award in bronze and recognition from the BDIA for its scenography.
Questions visitors ask
- Was this house Bach's actual birthplace?
- Local tradition and the biographer Carl Hermann Bitter identified it as his birthplace in 1857, with a plaque following in 1868, but municipal tax records later placed his father's property nearby on the Fleischgasse — the museum itself now calls the building his presumed rather than documented birthplace.[2]
- When did the Bachhaus open?
- On 27 May 1907, the first museum ever built for Johann Sebastian Bach.[1]
- Can visitors hear the instruments played?
- Yes — the house's two organs, a clavichord, a Silbermann harpsichord and a further harpsichord are all played for visitors in a short concert on the hour.
- Who owns the Bachhaus?
- The Neue Bachgesellschaft, founded in 1900 and today some 3,000 members worldwide.
Sources
- Museum — Bachhaus Eisenach, retrieved 30 August 2026
- Bachhaus Eisenach — Wikipedia, retrieved 30 August 2026
Connected Historical Figures
composer • musician • organist
Visit Information
€14.50 adults; €12.50 groups of 10+/severely disabled; €8.50 pupils, students, benefit recipients; €32 family card; €22 mini-family card; under 6 free
Daily, 10:00–18:00
Frauenplan 21, 99817 Eisenach
In Weimar's history
Around Weimar
West
The house long linked to Bach's birth in 1685, and the world's first museum built for him, opened in 1907.