Goethe's Garden House
About This Site
The duke gave Goethe this house in the park in 1776, and it was where he lived for his first six Weimar years, until he moved into town in 1782. It is a small old building in a meadow — which is exactly what he liked about it.
A lovely little garden outside the gate, 1776
He described it himself, in a letter to Countess Auguste zu Stolberg in May 1776, as a lovely little garden outside the gate by the Ilm with beautiful meadows in a valley, and an old little house in it.[1] That is the whole appeal, then and now: the building is thought to have gone up in the sixteenth century as a winegrower's house, and a twenty-six-year-old who had just accepted a post at court was given it to live in — the contract for the garden on the Horn with the house in it is dated 22 April 1776, and Duke Carl August made him a gift of it.[1][2]
The Erlkönig, and a favourite place kept for life, 1776–1832
The house was his first home of his own in Weimar and, until his move to the Frauenplan in 1782, his main place of living and working; here he wrote the ballad Erlkönig and the poem An den Mond, and straight after acquiring the property he set about redesigning the overgrown garden.[1] It stayed his favourite retreat, which he tended and visited again and again — for the last time on 20 February 1832, a month before his death; the Stein des guten Glücks stands near the house.[2]
How a house becomes a shrine, 1841–1886
After his death the place turned into a destination almost immediately. His grandsons let visitors in from 1841, and it opened formally as a memorial in 1886.[1] Since 1998 the house has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage ensemble Classical Weimar.[2]
Visiting
It sits in the Park an der Ilm, open Tuesday to Sunday from ten to six in the season and shut through the winter, while the park around it stays open all year; adults pay €8, reduced €6, pupils aged 16 to 20 €3.[1]
Questions visitors ask
- Why did Goethe live in a garden house?
- Duke Carl August gave him the house in 1776, shortly after the twenty-six-year-old accepted a post at court. Goethe described it himself, in a letter that May, as a lovely little garden outside the gate by the Ilm with beautiful meadows and an old little house — exactly what appealed to him about it.[1]
- How long did he live here?
- Six years — from 1776 until he moved into town, to the house on the Frauenplan, in 1782.[1]
- When did it become a museum?
- His grandsons let visitors in from 1841, and it opened formally as a memorial in 1886.[1]
- Can I visit?
- Yes — Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00–18:00, closed Mondays and closed in winter.[1] The Park an der Ilm around it stays open all year even when the house is shut.
Connected Historical Figures
writer • statesman • naturalist
The duke gave it to him in 1776; it was his home for six years, until he moved to the Frauenplan in 1782.
Sources (2)
- Goethes Gartenhaus — Klassik Stiftung Weimar, retrieved 29 August 2026
- Goethes Gartenhaus — Wikipedia (de), retrieved 30 August 2026
Visit Information
€8 adults; €6 reduced; €3 pupils aged 16–20
Tue–Sun 10:00–18:00; closed Mon; closed in winter
Park an der Ilm, 99425 Weimar
50.9762, 11.3368
Events held here
Events
Fridays at 18:00 and Saturdays at 16:00, about ninety minutes
His first house here, in the park.
One day in June
Goethe's first house in Weimar is inscribed together with the garden he worked himself.
The Saturday of the Onion Market, in October
The course passes it on the park section of the lap.
In Weimar's history
Historic sites
Ilm Park, 99425 Weimar
Goethe's house on the park's eastern slope, acquired in the spring of 1776.
Historical periods
Where the period's central figure actually chose to live, before the work moved him to the Frauenplan.
For roughly sixty years a duchy of a few thousand people held the centre of German literature, because its ruler kept inviting writers to live there and then gave them jobs. That is the whole mechanism, and it ran from Goethe's arrival in 1775 to his death in 1832.
In Weimar's history
On 7 November 1775 a carriage from Frankfurt brought the twenty-six-year-old author of Werther into a town of six thousand people. He had come for a short visit; he stayed for the rest of his life.
The duke's present of 1776, Goethe's first home of his own in Weimar after the four months at the Kalbs'.
Twice in three years the World Heritage Committee put Weimar on its list: the Bauhaus buildings on 7 December 1996, and the eleven monuments of Classical Weimar on 2 December 1998.
Listed with the park on the Ilm as part of Classical Weimar in 1998, a stone's throw from the Haus Am Horn of the other inscription.