In the location's words:

The Goethe-Schiller Archive has been the oldest literary archive in Germany since 1896. It was commissioned by Grand Duchess Sophie to house the manuscript estates of Goethe and Schiller. The building was designed by the Weimar architect Otto Minckert and modeled on the "Petit Trianon" in the park at Versailles.

Under the patronage of Sophie, the first large historical-critical complete edition of Goethe's works, diaries and letters was compiled here: the so-called "Weimar Edition" or "Sophien Edition". This was published from 1887 to 1919 in 143 volumes.

Goethe's literary estate was added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2001 as an important document of world literature and is therefore a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The collection contains Goethe's most important manuscripts, including the fair copy of Faust and the manuscripts of "Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre", "Italienische Reise" and "Dichtung und Wahrheit".

Today, the Goethe-Schiller Archive holds 111 bequests, 11 collections of institutional origin and an autograph collection with individual manuscripts of more than 3000 personalities.

Die aktuellen Öffnungszeiten finden Sie auf der Webseite zum Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv.