Weimar [ a ] is a city in the German state of Thuringia , in Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, 80 km 50 mi southwest of Leipzig , km mi north of Nuremberg and km mi west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouring cities of Erfurt and Jena, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia, with approximately , inhabitants. The city itself has a population of 65, Weimar is well known because of its cultural heritage and importance in German history.
The city was a focal point of the German Enlightenment and home of the leading literary figures of Weimar Classicism , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller. In the 19th century, composers such as Franz Liszt made Weimar a music centre. Later, artists and architects such as Henry van de Velde , Wassily Kandinsky , Paul Klee , Lyonel Feininger , and Walter Gropius came to the city and founded the Bauhaus movement, the most important German design school of the interwar period.
The political history of 20th-century Weimar was volatile: it was the place where Germany's first democratic constitution was signed after the First World War , giving its name to the Weimar Republic β It was also one of the cities mythologized by Nazi propaganda.
Until , Weimar was the capital of Thuringia. Many places in the city centre have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites , either as part of the Classical Weimar complex containing monuments to the classical period of Weimar in 18th and 19th centuries or the Bauhaus complex containing buildings associated with the Bauhaus art school.
In , Weimar was the European Capital of Culture. Archaeological finds dating back to the Thuringii epoch 3rd to 6th centuries show that the Weimar part of the Ilm valley was settled early.
