Herderplatz

The town church stands on this square at Herderplatz 8, and both the square and the church are named after Johann Gottfried Herder, chief court preacher and pastor here from 1776 to 1803, whose grave is inside, in the western nave. The Herderplatz is the quieter half of Weimar's public life: in December the Märchenhafte Weihnacht sets up in front of the church — the fairy-tale end of the Christmas market, staged as a feast for the senses rather than a shopping street — and in early September the Public Dance Days put dancers on the cobbles. The rest of the year it does what a church square does: it is somewhere to sit down within sight of the town's oldest reasons for existing.