Goe­the’s for­got­ten mas­ter buil­der — Cle­mens Wen­zes­laus Cou­dray at the Stadt­mu­se­um Wei­mar

Wi­th the ex­hi­bi­ti­on “Cle­mens Wen­zes­laus Cou­dray. Goe­the’s for­got­ten mas­ter buil­der”, the Stadt­mu­se­um Wei­mar is ho­no­u­ring one of the most in­flu­en­ti­al re­pre­sen­ta­ti­ves of clas­si­cist ar­chi­tec­tu­re in Thu­rin­gia. To mark the 250th an­ni­ver­sa­ry of his birth and 180th an­ni­ver­sa­ry of his de­ath, the mu­se­um is on­ce again spot­light­ing the mul­ti­face­ted work of the Grand Du­cal Chief Buil­ding Di­rec­tor. From 1816, Cou­dray had a de­cisi­ve in­fluence on the ci­ty­scape of Wei­mar and rea­li­sed num­e­rous pu­blic and pri­va­te buil­ding pro­jects — from pa­lace and re­si­den­ti­al buil­dings to schools, churches and the Wei­mar roy­al crypt. His works we­re crea­ted in clo­se harm­o­ny wi­th Goe­the’s ide­as on ar­chi­tec­tu­re and ur­ban de­sign.

The ca­bi­net ex­hi­bi­ti­on in the Ber­tuch­haus pres­ents in­for­ma­ti­ve texts as well as sel­ec­ted ob­jects that make Cou­dray’s im­pact tan­gi­ble. The cen­tre­pie­ce is a marb­le bust by Ernst Riet­schel as well as spe­cial ex­hi­bits such as a Bie­der­mei­er com­me­mo­ra­ti­ve cup wi­th views of Wei­mar and the sur­roun­ding area, li­te­ra­tu­re on Cou­dray and ra­re ar­tis­tic works. The an­ni­ver­sa­ry ex­hi­bi­ti­on in­vi­tes vi­si­tors to ex­pe­ri­ence Cou­dray’s ar­chi­tec­tu­ral le­ga­cy an­ew on dis­co­very tours in Wei­mar and the Wei­mar re­gi­on and to ho­nour his las­ting si­gni­fi­can­ce for clas­si­cism.