Weimar

views updated Jun 27 2018

Weimar City in the state of Thuringia, e central Germany. Founded in 975 and chartered in 1348, the city was capital of the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar from 1547 to 1918. It reached its zenith in the 18th century as the literary capital of Europe. The 19th century witnessed a gradual artistic decline. In 1919, the German National Assembly convened here to establish the Weimar Republic, and Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus school of art. Pop. (1998) 62,176.

Weimar Republic

views updated May 18 2018

Weimar Republic the German republic of 1919–33, so called because its constitution was drawn up at Weimar, a city in Thuringia, central Germany, which was famous in the late 18th and early 19th century for its intellectual and cultural life. It was eventually overthrown by the Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler.