Bauhaus Sites
This WHS consists of a group of buildings, situated in the East German towns Weimar and Dessau. They are the most prominent representations of the Bauhaus architectural school (1919-1933).
The "Staatliche Bauhaus" was founded in Weimar in 1919 by Walter Gropius. In Weimar the Art School, the Applied Art School and the Haus am Horn are part of this WHS. The Art Schools were designed by the Belgian master Henry van de Velde. The Haus am Horn was the first practical statement: a Bauhaus settlement of single family houses like this was planned. But due to political pressure the Bauhaus had to leave Weimar in 1925.
They ended up in Dessau, where the second (and more successful) phase of Bauhaus started. Prominent here were Hannes Meyer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. In Dessau the designated sites are the Bauhaus building and the group of seven Masters Houses. Especially the Bauhaus building, made out of concrete, glass and steel, is a landmark in 20th century architecture.
Visit March 2005
The video in the Bauhaus Museum in Weimar is a perfect introduction to the history of the Bauhaus school. It was literally a school: with pupils (men and women), a curriculum and inspirational teachers. A half year introduction course with a strong theoretical emphasis (and some meditation!) was mandatory. After that, the students were trained by both artists and craftsmen.
The museum exhibits documents related to the Bauhaus history and shows several functional objects made by Bauhaus artists. Some chairs and household utensils are still being produced. I found it really worth visiting.
I also had a look at the three WH-listed Bauhaus monuments in Weimar. The Haus am Horn is situated in a residential street near Weimars classical monuments in the Park on the Ilm. It's a simple building. The two buildings that housed the Art Schools are also preserved quite well. One can almost imagine the long haired, artsy students coming and going.
More photos can be found in the Picture Gallery
Reviews
Berndt Meyer (Canada):
I visited the house in Weimar, at the edge of the park, the grounds of the local Schloss....Goethe lived there for some time also about 200 m away in his time.
I walked the inside and found it ample and practical.
The active and bedrooms located around the living-room with its elevated and windowed atrium was at the comfortable center of the place. It can only be compared with an Adobe style house of the Navaho, they also went vertical in tiers.
B. Meyer
Canada |
| Date posted: July 2009 |
Ian Cade (England):
 If your idea of a good World Heritage site is a historic city centre, then this is perhaps not the best place to visit as arriving from the train station the Bauhaus itself could easily be mistaken for any other municipal building pretty much anywhere in the world. However if like me you have a keen interest in modern architecture or design this is less a visit and more a pilgrimage.
The main building of the Bauhaus was designed by Walter Gropius after the school was forced to relocate due to political changes in Wiemar. Gropius is one of the key architects of the twentieth century and this building is his masterpiece. As I have already said it seems to look like many other buildings throughout the world, however it would be more accurate to say that all the other buildings look like this one.
It feels instantly familiar being like the buildings I have used for everything in my life; schools, housing blocks, offices and hospitals and this is where its great value lies. Many of the aims of the Bauhaus have been corrupted, as shown by the particularly expensive gift shop, however the international spread of ideas and objects pioneered in this building are undeniable.
I would recommend taking the guided tour, it was only available in German however it allows you to see much more of the building, especially impressive was the main auditorium, and the office from which Gropius and later Mies Van Der Rohe (a bit of a personal hero) conducted the day to day running of the school. I was also impressed that many of the chair designed by Breuer were available to be sat upon, normally when you see them they are very much of limits in museums and it was with great joy that I finally sat down in his famous Wassily chair looking out of the rows of windows.
About a 10-minute walk away are the master’s houses, also designed by Gropius and these are great pieces from the International school of architecture, however we did not visit their interior.
The international importance of the Bauhaus institution is huge, Mies and Gropius both developed the ideas further at IIT and MIT respectively in the USA and architects that have trained under them have shaped the face of many modern cities.
For many people the Bauhaus may not be very interesting and Dessau itself is often ignored by guide books, it is not the most aesthetically pleasing of cities, however for me this was a great World Heritage site and one that can identifiably been seen as having a global impact, a personal favourite. |
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Ian Cade (England):
 If your idea of a good World Heritage site is a historic city centre, then this is perhaps not the best place to visit as arriving from the train station the Bauhaus itself could easily be mistaken for any other municipal building pretty much anywhere in the world. However if like me you have a keen interest in modern architecture or design this is less a visit and more a pilgrimage.
The main building of the Bauhaus was designed by Walter Gropius after the school was forced to relocate due to political changes in Wiemar. Gropius is one of the key architects of the twentieth century and this building is his masterpiece. As I have already said it seems to look like many other buildings throughout the world, however it would be more accurate to say that all the other buildings look like this one.
It feels instantly familiar being like the buildings I have used for everything in my life; schools, housing blocks, offices and hospitals and this is where its great value lies. Many of the aims of the Bauhaus have been corrupted, as shown by the particularly expensive gift shop, however the international spread of ideas and objects pioneered in this building are undeniable.
I would recommend taking the guided tour, it was only available in German however it allows you to see much more of the building, especially impressive was the main auditorium, and the office from which Gropius and later Mies Van Der Rohe (a bit of a personal hero) conducted the day to day running of the school. I was also impressed that many of the chair designed by Breuer were available to be sat upon, normally when you see them they are very much of limits in museums and it was with great joy that I finally sat down in his famous Wassily chair looking out of the rows of windows.
About a 10-minute walk away are the master’s houses, also designed by Gropius and these are great pieces from the International school of architecture, however we did not visit their interior. |
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on Easter 2006 I passed Dessau on one of my biketrips.
The sites are pretty interesting. The masterhouses are a rolemodel for modern living and the big Bauhaus is today an interesting museum |
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Paul Tanner (UK):
 When one thinks about it there are not too many cultural sites on the list about which one can say that “here emerged ideas which have impacted my daily life”. The Bauhaus is such a place – in terms of the buildings I have worked in, the chairs I have sat on, the consumer goods I have used etc. A truly “Imaginative” WHS both for what it achieved AND for being selected! A refreshing change from the turgid lists of minor religious buildings! OK – so no “idea” starts solely in 1 place, much “Bauhaus thought” predated the organisation and even the Bauhaus itself came from Weimar (which the inscribed site includes) but I still felt a frisson from walking the corridors of the School in Dessau and looking out of these windows – a frisson I have found missing at many more supposedly “significant” sites. There are several "bauhaus buildings" in the town - not all on the inscribed list - I rather liked the Restaurant near the river which for some reason wasn't included. |
| Date posted: August 2005 |
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