"Amtshaus" with Goethe memorial

Completed in 1756, the Amtshaus (chief local administrator's office) is a real gem of architecture. It was built by Gottfried Heinrich Krohne, a Baroque master, who headed the reconstruction of Ilmenau after the fire in 1752. Among the many celebrities who often took up in this building, which is also called "Ilmenau Palace" were Carl August, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and - not very surpricingly - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In 1949, i. e. on Goethes 200th birthday, a Goethe memorial was established in five rooms on the first floor, focusing primarily on Goethes work at Ilmenau. In the above Goethe room visitors can admire a Baroque bookcase with a writing desk where the poet presumably worked.

Other pieces of furniture, too, convey the air of the classical period. Period documents introduce the visitor to Goethe's work, but also to the activities of famous figures connected with him. Contempory pictures, copperplate engravings, historical drawings, busts and many objects from his time like appliances and uniforms are on display. The minors room gives an insight into Ilmenau's copper and silver mining and Goethes efforts to keep the mining trade alive as long as possible.

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