DEUTSCHES NATIONALTHEATER. Weimar, Thüringen, Germany. Postcard (1990s)

DEUTSCHES NATIONALTHEATER
Weimar

Postcard published by Auslese-Bild-Verlag, Bad Salzungen, Nº Wei 036.

Even before the first comedy theater was built, theater was already being performed in Weimar: troupes of comedians regularly appeared at the Weimar court at the invitation of the dukes. In 1696, Duke William Ernst commissioned the construction of an opera house in the Ilm wing of the castle, but it was destroyed by fire in 1774. Duchess Anna Amalia, an art lover and wife of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, then founded an amateur theater that brought together a circle of laypeople, both aristocratic and bourgeois. Performances were held in various venues, including the Redoutenhaus, the castle, the open-air stages of Ettersburg, and in Tiefurt. Goethe, 26 years old and a resident of Weimar since 1775, also joined this group of amateurs as an actor, poet, and director. Duke Charles Augustus decided to found a court theater in the comedy theater built in 1779 opposite the Wittumspalais. This is the present-day Deutsches Nationaltheater (German National Theater).

Traveler's collection.