The Kunstsammlungen in Weimar [antikvár]

Birds-eye view of the Weimar Palace. The so-called »Bastille« and the tower in the foreground are the last remnants of the old castle. Aerial photo: Roland Dreßler, 1992 I"* he Kunstsammlungen (art collections) of Weimar became what they are now in 1922/23 when several museums and palace buildings, which were built during the reign of the grand ducal house of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, were combined. The Kunstsammlungen comprise the Schloßmuseum (palace museum) with its historical rooms and the picture galleries, the poets' rooms with the murals by Bernhard Neher and Friedrich Preller the elder, the Belvedere Palace containing mainly the collection of arts and crafts of the 18th century, the Art Gallery near the Theaterplatz which will, from 1994 onwards, include an exhibition about the Bauhaus Weimar, and the former Landesmuseum (county museum), which was built in 1869 but fell into decay after 1945. The museum is now being restored to house the department of modern art consisting mainly of the art collection of the gallery owner Paul Maenz. Most of the collection's paintings are at present exhibited in the Residenzschloß (residential palace), with the exception of a small group of i8th century paintings displayed together with the collection of rococo arts and crafts in the Belvedere Palace. The Stadtschloß (town palace), originally a medieval moated castle, was converted into a stately residence in the i6th century after the Saxon Prince Elector Johann Friedrich lost Wittenberg, the seat of his government, and the electorship in the Schmal-caldic war in 1547. Weimar became the ducal residence and the centre of the new Duchy of Saxe-Weimar which was enlarged in 1741 by the annexion of Eisenach and raised to the status of a grand duchy in 1815. The Gentz staircase in the Weimar Palace. Photo: Klaus Beyer, c. 1970 The ducal art collections were housed in the palace as early as the 16th century. When the palace burnt down in 1618 it was rebuih by 1664 with a three winged lay-out. These collections were continuously enlarged after 1700, when the Duke Wilhelm Ernst began assembling a cabinet of art and rarities. Apart from the applied arts, coins and natural history specimens, paintings formed a large proportion of the collection. An inventory of 1729 mentions several hundred oil paintings as well as drawings and etchings. The great fire of 1774 which gutted the entire palace, leaving only the outer walls intact, destroyed most of the contents of the art cabinet. The palace was rebuilt between 1789 and 1803 under Duke Carl August with considerable participation of Johann Wolfgang Goethe. The architects were Johann August Arens from Hamburg, then Nikolaus Thouret from Stuttgart and finally the Prussian architect Heinrich Gentz. Thouret's architectural design of the representative rooms, such as the banqueting hall and the falcon gallery, took the existing structure into account. The finish and the interior decoration as well as the grand staircase were completed by Gentz. While the baroque facade of the palace was retained, the interior was completely redecorated in a neo-classic style.