Most important multi-discipline theaters in the country are the German National Theater in Weimar, Theater Altenburg-Gera and the Staatstheater Meiningen. Traditional theaters are still operated today in Arnstadt, Nordhausen, Rudolstadt and Eisenach. New buildings from recent times include the Theater Erfurt and the Vogtlandhalle Greiz. The largest open-air stage is the Steinbach-Langenbach Nature Theater in the Thuringian Forest
The literary history of Thuringia is inextricably determined by the Weimar Classic. She led German-language literature in the 18th century with the circle of poets around Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller. Johann Gottfried Herder, Karl Ludwig von Knebel and Christoph Martin Wieland can also be classified in this era. They concentrated at the Weimar court around Duke Karl August and his mother Anna Amalia. The Bach family with their most famous son, Johann Sebastian Bach, comes from Wechmar near Gotha.
In the field of fine arts, the Bauhaus in Weimar was particularly important in Thuringia. It shaped the style of the world in the 1920s and attracted painters such as Lyonel Feininger, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Johannes Itten and Oskar Schlemmer as well as architects such as Walter Gropius, Henry van de Velde and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe to the Free State. But painters such as Lucas Cranach the Elder or Otto Dix and the sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider also worked in Thuringia.
The most famous castle in the country is the Wartburg above Eisenach, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was once the seat of the Landgraves of Thuringia and later the place where Martin Luther was hidden from the imperial authorities and translated parts of the Bible into German.
The UNESCO World Heritage includes the "Classic Weimar", the Bauhaus in Weimar, the Wartburg near Eisenach and the Hainich National Park as part of the European beech forests. The state capital Erfurt has important cultural and historical sites with the cathedral, the Krämerbrücke and the oldest preserved synagogue in Central Europe. The largest city is Erfurt, other important centers are Jena, Gera and Weimar.
Weimar - Christmas markets have long had a strong attraction for us, so it was clear that we would also like to visit the larger Christmas markets in the surrounding cities.
Several times we had already noticed street signs to the moated castle in the Thuringian town of Heldrungen, which we had not yet followed.
After the first talks about places of interest in the area, the owner of the campsite "Unter den Jenzig" had also referred to the small town of Kahla, which, in addition to the porcelain manufactory, also had a still completely preserved, medieval city wall as well as some buildings from the time.
The waterworks in Gotha is an outstanding example of historical engineering art and an important landmark of the Thuringian city of Gotha.
On the occasion of the citizens' festival for German Unity Day, we visited the Petersberg Citadel in the city centre of Erfurt for the first time, arranged in a star shape on the Petersberg and rising above Erfurt's old town.
A cloudy, rainy day had brought us back to Weimar in the past few days, “best” weather to visit the still relatively new Bauhaus Museum, which was opened to the public on April 5, 2019.
We were actually only supposed to go to the evening concert of the Italian band “Strange Kind Of Women” in the Volkshaus Meiningen, but then we arrived in Meiningen in time enough to at least make a short visit to the Christmas market there.
After our visit to the “Roman House” in the park on the Ilm, Georg Muche's single-family house from Bauhaus architecture, which was hyper-modern for the time, was of course at the top of our list of interests.
Anyone who, like us, initially thinks that in Apolda there are only bluebells, wool cabbage and perhaps the best Thuringian bratwurst, is at least partially factually wrong, but thematically exactly right for the greenery in the city.
Again and again, our visits to the city of Weimar also lead to the large park that stretches along the Ilm almost right through the city.
Not that anyone thinks that the ancient Romans discovered Weimar or even founded it, but the "Roman House", a building on the edge of the park on the Ilm in Weimar, is always worth a visit.
Now that we wanted to spend a few days in Schleiz because of the 100th anniversary of the Schleizer Dreieck in the region, it was clear that we wanted to explore Schleiz itself for at least a few hours.
After our so much impressing tour through the former Buchenwald concentration camp close to the city entry of the independent city of Weimar, which had proved to be much more time-consuming than planned, we first needed to talk, so that we were able to exchange first impressions and ideas.
It's rainy, cloudy and cold - no weather for walking or cycling, but there was still something in Wiehe.
That's right, because it's been on our schedule for a long time for upcoming visits: one of the largest model railway systems in the world!
The first snow is here and soon the first sleds and plastic bobs and bowls can be seen again. Hobby tobogganists and sled drivers can be found on the slopes again with their various companions.
Without question, the Erfurt Christmas market is one of the most beautiful Christmas markets in Germany and it is the largest in Thuringia anyway, because the medieval old town of Erfurt around the cathedral square offers the ideal backdrop for an atmospheric pre-Christmas period.
Kölleda was once known as the peppermint town, even if today the area under cultivation of the aromatic mint is not very large. We had decided to take advantage of the glorious November weather to finally try the cycling and hiking trail to Kölleda.
The official celebrations for the Day of German Unity 2022 recently took place in Thuringia's state capital Erfurt, along with a well-prepared and successful citizens' festival with lots of live music, plenty of attractions and, of course, many delicacies.
After our tour along the fortress wall of Mühlhausen, the city centre should now be explored. It is not without reason that Mühlhausen calls itself "Muhlhusia turrita", the tower-decorated Mühlhausen with once 59 towers, the churches and the city wall.
An important date had led us to the imperial city of Mühlhausen in Thuringia, which existed until 1802 and is world-famous for its rich historical heritage, so Mühlhausen was also the place where Johann Sebastian Bach and Thomas Müntzer worked.