The history of the Weimar City Castle abounds in new beginnings and crushing setbacks. It is a tale of ideas, illusions and fallacies. The question of what the future holds is now the subject of new plans and projections.
As renovation efforts and the programmatic reorientation of Weimar’s largest historical landmark continue, the Klassik Stiftung Weimar has launched an accompanying artistic project entitled “Castle Stories” – multifaceted, multi-perspective and multimedia. What is taking shape between the city and the park? Who needs a castle nowadays? Whose story is being told? By whom – and for whom? We want to explore the history of this extraordinary monument, which is a spatial work of art in its own right.
In the coming years, the Castle will be used as material for selected writers, artists, photographers and musicians. Based on these diverse perspectives, we hope to encourage a discursive examination of the Castle’s role today as a forum of vibrant dialogue in a democratic society. Our Castle will continue changing as it has throughout the ages, but this time we want to allow everyone to share in the experience.
The project "Narrating the Palace" starts in September 2022 and will publish artistic contributions in no particular order that will accompany the Weimar Castle during the extensive renovation and repositioning.
At the start of the project "Narrating the Palace", the author Helge Hesse writes about beginnings and arrivals, puts himself in the time of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and draws an arc from the arrival of Maria Pavlovna to the construction site of the present. His contribution is designed as a basic narrative, on the basis of which all subsequent interventions unfold.
The booklet "Narrating the Palace #01" is now available free of charge from the Conversation Lab in front of the Castle and can be downloaded here.
#02 Gordon Welters
The "Sun" in the Gentz staircase,
Photo: Gordon Welters
In the maze of rooms on the ground floor of the east wing,
Photo: Gordon Welters
A cloaked sculpture in the Great Hall,
Photo: Gordon Welters
Magnificent staircase to offices in the west wing,
Photo: Gordon Welters
Room without pictures: the 2nd anteroom on the first floor, the pictures have been removed for restoration,
Photo: Gordon Welters
Valuable stucco marble in Coudray's stairwell, joints applied in graphite,
Photo: Gordon Welters
Goethe's handwriting: Columns without bases in the Gentz staircase,
Photo: Gordon Welters
In the former stranger's apartment on the 2nd floor: this is where Duke Carl August's guests lived,
Photo: Gordon Welters
Room in transit: the future event room in the east wing,
Photo: Gordon Welters
A hidden spiral staircase in the east wing,
Photo: Gordon Welters
A mysterious and sealed wallpaper door on the first floor of the east wing.,
Phto: Gordon Welters
Time layers in the piano nobile of the east wing,
Photo: Gordon Welters
The ceiling in the table room on the first floor of the east wing: awaiting restoration,
Photo: Gordon Welters
In the tapestry room without tapestry,
Photo: Gordon Welters
Living in 1916: embossed leather wallpaper in the south wing and current outpatient measures,
Photo: Gordon Welters
The magic eye in Gentz's staircase: the oculus up close,
Photo: Gordon Welters
Insights into a bathroom on the 2nd floor of the east wing,
Photo: Gordon Welters
Graphic traces, exquisite colors,
Photo: Gordon Welters
Insights into the council chamber in the west wing: this is where the first deliberations on the Weimar constitution began,
Photo: Gordon Welters
Daylight shaft in the castle,
Photo: Gordon Welters
The photographer Gordon Welters dives into the depths of the castle like Alice in Wonderland down the rabbit hole. On his individual exploration of the building as an object of amazement, he discovers corridors, aisles and mezzanines, dead corners, hidden staircases and mysterious traces of former users who have inscribed themselves in the building, overlapping and creating paradoxical moments in their simultaneity.
The photo series was created in the summer of 2022 on behalf of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar and will be posted on the construction site fence around the casle from mid-September.
#03 Eunike Kramer
(only in german)
Castle Stories #03
An auditory tour of the Weimar City Castle With passers-by on the streets of Weimar
Passers-by on the streets of Weimar have very different impressions of the City Castle. For some, the Castle, located at the park entrance, is like an unopened black box. Others have personal memories of the building, are familiar with the rooms inside, and can recall events which occurred there. “I’m always amazed at how many nooks and crannies are still waiting to be discovered in the Castle. And that there are rooms inside which someone outside would never expect.”
Their memories serve as our guide through the Castle, each inscribed onto different layers of history. But as we arrive in the present, the Castle requires a more critical examination. Do we have to preserve our symbols of dominion? And whose version of the past should be told to audiences today? The memories are accompanied by a composition of sounds from the Castle.
With: Sebastian Dohe Brigitta Ulferts Max Königshofer Christine Dörner Kirsten Angermann Frank Motz And passers-by on the streets of Weimar
A piece by Eunike Kramer Composition und sound: David Bilek Narrator: Francisca Menges
Eunike Kramer studied media art and experimental radio in Weimar. She now lives in Leipzig where she works as a radio artist. Her auditory pieces are known for exploring topics related to societal transformation.
Projects of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar are funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Free State of Thuringia, represented by the State Chancellery of Thuringia, Department of Culture and the Arts.
