As a university of design, the Bauhaus School
revolutionised 20th century art and architecture around the world. Today
the original buildings in Weimar and Dessau, along with a range of
museums and exhibitions, provide an insight into a movement that still
seems innovative today.
In December 1996, almost 70 years to the day since the
dedication of the Gropius Building in Dessau, the Bauhaus sites of
Dessau and Weimar
were designated official UNESCO World Heritage sites. Buildings by
Bauhaus teachers such as Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer, László
Moholy-Nagy and Wassily Kandinsky established the Bauhaus style, which
greatly influenced the architecture of the 20th century. The work of the
Bauhaus started in Weimar in 1919 and was first shown in an exhibition
in 1923. Haus am Horn in Weimar, which in 1923 was built as a showcase
home to a design by George Muche, exemplifies this unique architectural
style. But the main building of the Bauhaus University and the former
School of Arts and Crafts on Geschwister-Scholl-Strasse, both designed
by the Belgian Henry van de Velde, are pure Bauhaus too. Also worth
visiting is the Bauhaus Museum on Theaterplatz, directly opposite the
Goethe and Schiller statue. In Dessau, the College of Design was a
magnet for the avant garde of the time. Walter Gropius designed the
building, which opened in 1926. It was with the Dessau Bauhaus that the
application of Modernist principles to architecture and design first
began to take shape, as can be seen from the 'masters' houses' and the
Dessau-Törten estate. In the historical Bauhaus Canteen you can enjoy a
generous breakfast or lunch sitting on the Marcel Breuer-designed
stools. In the Studio House, former student rooms, some remodelled
according to their original design, can be rented as single or double
guestrooms.
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