The Bauhaus Movement & Museum in Weimar

Just before Christmas your programme secretary (Peggy) and her husband spent a few days in Weimar in Thuringia, Germany. For many people, the name of this small but attractive city will forever be associated with the creation of the ill-fated and short-lived Weimar Republic (1918 - 1933) and the rampant hyper-inflation that ravaged the economy and social fabric of Germany during the 1920s and early 1930s.

However, Weimar was also (and remains) an important centre of German culture and art, with literary giants such as Goethe and Schiller choosing to make their homes there for many years. Johann Sebastian Bach and Richard Wagner were also residents for a time.

The Bauhaus Movement, which inter alia stands for modernist ideas in building and design, was founded in Weimar in 1919 at the school founded by Walter Gropius, where he decided that apprentices should learn Art and Design in workshops i.e. from sketch to function. Indeed for many the multi-faceted history of Modernism in the 20th Century is exemplified in Weimar, a place where culture and particularly art flourished from the end of the 19th Century until well into the era of the Weimar Republic, until eventually if temporarily suppressed by the malign forces of National Socialism. The Bauhaus School of Design, opened in 1919, became internationally renowned for its radical ideas on form, colour, materials, iconic architecture and the design of everyday objects such as lamps, chairs and other items of furniture.

Today, after various iterations including renaming in 1996 as 'Bauhaus-Universitat Weimar', education is subsumed in the university faculties of Architecture and Urbanism, Civil Engineering, Arts and Design and Media and the influence of the Bauhaus Movement is as powerful as ever. The best place to explore this subject is the excellent Bauhaus Museum in Weimar, relocated and, after refurbishment, opened in 2019, where a visitor can easily spend half a day. Exhibits include many of the eye-catching original Bauhaus design classics. There's also a modern café/restaurant for that all-important coffee break! The best way to get there from UK is by flying to Berlin Brandenburg Airport and then travelling by Deutsche Bahn trains to Weimar via Erfurt.