Liszt-Haus
About This Site
A gardener's house at the edge of the park, where Franz Liszt spent the summers of his last years teaching. It is the modest, late chapter of his Weimar — and the one that survives to be walked into.
The grand address came first, 1848–1886
Liszt had lived on a different scale in this town before. From 1848 he was Hofkapellmeister and kept the Villa Altenburg on Jenaer Straße with Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein,[1] and that house was the centre of musical Weimar for over a decade. What you can visit today is the sequel rather than the height: Grand Duke Carl Alexander invited him back in 1869, and from then until his death in 1886 Liszt occupied the former court gardener's house at the edge of the Park an der Ilm.[2] He taught in it without charging a fee, to an international circle of pupils — mostly men and a few women — and in one season as many as forty aspiring virtuosos made the journey.[3] These rooms are where that happened.
Older than its famous tenant, 18th century–1819
The building predates Liszt by a century. It went up at the end of the 18th century for the court gardener and was given its present face in 1819 by Clemens Wenzeslaus Coudray, the architect responsible for much of classical Weimar's look.[2] Liszt inherited a working service building, not a villa — which is part of why the rooms read as they do. It stands on the western edge of the Park an der Ilm, where the avenue to Belvedere Palace begins.[1]
A memorial opened almost immediately, 1886–1887
It became a museum with unusual speed. In 1887, the year after Liszt died, Carl Alexander had the composer's living rooms opened to the public[2] — fast enough that the house was preserved rather than reconstructed, which is why the rooms carry the weight they do. Liszt himself only ever used the house in the warm months,[1] and the museum has inherited that rhythm along with the furniture: it closes for the winter and reopens in summer.[2]
Questions visitors ask
- Where did Liszt live in Weimar?
- He had two addresses. From 1848 he lived at the Villa Altenburg with Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein, as Hofkapellmeister.[1] From 1869 until his death in 1886, Grand Duke Carl Alexander gave him the former court gardener's house at the edge of the Park an der Ilm — the Liszt-Haus a visitor can walk into today.[2]
- What did he do here?
- He taught, without charging a fee, an international circle of pianists — mostly men and a few women. In one season as many as forty aspiring virtuosos travelled to Weimar to study with him.[3]
- How old is the building?
- It predates Liszt by a century: built at the end of the eighteenth century as the court gardener's house, and given its present face in 1819 by the architect Clemens Wenzeslaus Coudray.[2]
- Can I visit?
- The house opened as a memorial in 1887, the year after Liszt died, and is open Wednesday to Monday (closed Tuesdays) in summer, 10:00 to 18:00. It closes for the winter.[2]
Sources
- Liszt-Haus — Stadt Weimar, retrieved 30 August 2026
- Liszt-Haus — Klassik Stiftung Weimar, retrieved 29 August 2026
- Franz Liszt – Genie und bescheidener Lehrmeister — Klassik Stiftung Weimar, retrieved 29 August 2026
Connected Historical Figures
grand duke • patron
He had Liszt's living rooms in the former court gardener's house opened as a memorial in 1887.
composer • pianist • conductor
He lived here through the summers from 1869 until his death in 1886, teaching an international crowd of pianists in these rooms.
Visit Information
Adults €7.00 · reduced €5.00 · students aged 16–20 €2.00
Wed–Mon, closed Tuesdays; summer 10:00–18:00. Closed for the winter — the Klassik Stiftung lists »Winter | geschlossen« (checked 29 August 2026).
Marienstraße 17, 99423 Weimar
50.9748, 11.3300
In Weimar's history
Historical periods
Liszt's second Weimar stay, and the memorial Carl Alexander opened in 1887, both belong to the decades between Goethe's death and the end of the monarchy.
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.