Fürstenhaus - Main building

Address
Main building Fürstenhaus
Platz der Demokratie 2/3
99423 Weimar
Germany

City map with adress Fürstenhaus (PDF, German)

Opening hours (during the lecture period)
Monday to Friday  7.00 am – 10.00 pm
Saturday  8.00 am – 10.00 pm
Sunday  9.00 am – 10.00 pm

In the Fürstenhaus, you will find the following offices and rooms
Library | Mediothek: ground floor
Reception and post boxes: ground floor
Orchestra office: first floor, room 114
Concert bookings and concert hall reservations: first floor, room 114
Faculty I, Dean's office: ground floor, room 020
Concert hall: first floor, room 103
Recording studio: second floor, room 211
Studio for electroacoustic music (SeaM), third floor, room 326

Teaching rooms for the following departments
Department of String Instruments and Harp
Department of Early Music
Department of Piano
Department of New Music and Jazz (Composition / SeaM)


History of the Fürstenhaus
The main building at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar, located on the Platz der Demokratie, has an especially interesting history. As a representative building for the estates of the country, building began in 1770. After the devastating fire of 1774 in the castle located opposite the building, the Fürstenhaus served as a residence for the ducal family – this is where the name Fürstenhaus comes from ('Fürst' can be translated into English as ruler or prince). After this it served various governmental purposes. From 1808 to 1816 it served as a domicile for the 'Free Drawing School'. From 1848 to 1920, the Fürstenhaus was the house of parliament for the grand duchy Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach. From 1920 to 1933 it was the house of parliament of Thuringia. From 1933-1945, the NSDAP-Gauleitung, the governor of Thuringia in the Third Reich, and high-level SS and police administration resided in the building.

The government and parliament of Thuringia, including the Ministry of the Interior, which had also been located in the Fürstenhaus, have worked since 1950 in the new capital of Thuringia, Erfurt. The administration of the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar managed to acquire the building in 1951. A thorough renovation of the building, which was in relatively bad shape, could not be undertaken. With great effort, the building was furnished and the most critical building modifications were able to be made. The building lying directly to the north-west of the school was also transferred to the Weimar University of Music.

The urgently needed restoration of the building took place from 1992 to 1999; this took place while the school was in session except for the last two years. A significant part of the building was replaced; in 1997, the entire middle section of the building was taken out to rebuild the festival room, which was actually originally conceived in 1770, but never realised. Since 1999 the festival room has been the core that characterises the educational and artistic centre of the school. A modern sound studio and a studio for electroacoustic music are also located in the Fürstenhaus. On the ground floor one can find the school's library as well as the media library. String players, pianists, composers und students and teachers of early music have their main place of study in this building.

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