Weimar

Weimar is a city in Germany. It is located at 50° 58 min. 6 sec. north / 11° 18 Min. 6 sec. east, in the Bundesland of Thuringia (Thüringen). Its current population is approximately 62,000. The oldest record of the city dates to the year 899.

Weimar was the capital of the German republic established by the Treaty of Versailles; when the Nazis overthrew the republic, they moved the capital to Berlin. This period (1919-1933) is commonly referred to as the Weimar Republic.

As capital of Germany, Weimar was the center of the Bauhaus movement. Goethe and Friedrich Schiller were buried in the city, and it houses their archives, as well as art galleries, museums, the German national theatre, and the Bauhaus University. During World War II, there was a concentration camp in Weimar (Buchenwald). UNESCO selected the city as cultural capital of Europe for 1999.

see also History of Germany