The Masters’ Houses and Classical Weimar

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. The Masters’ Houses

   Walter Gropius did not only design a school, he designed the houses for its teachers, and the Masters' Houses in Dessau are among the most elegant homes of the modern movement. Built in 1925 and 1926 on a quiet street at the edge of a pine wood, they form a row of white, flat-roofed, cubic buildings, each one a variation on the same set of simple geometric forms: three semi-detached pairs for the masters and a larger villa for Gropius himself. Their clean lines, large windows and balanced proportions were a statement of what modern living could look like.

   Read the complete The Masters’ Houses write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The Masters’ Houses is where the day begins. Next is Luther's birthplace.

2. 2. Luther's birthplace

   Martin Luther was born in Eisleben on 10 November 1483, and by an odd twist of fate he died here too, in 1546, while on a visit to settle a dispute between the counts of Mansfeld. The house where he was born was rebuilt after a fire in the seventeenth century and became one of the first museums in Germany dedicated to a single person. Together with the house where he died and the sites in Wittenberg where he lived and taught, it forms the UNESCO site of the Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg, listed in 1996. The museum tells the story of Luther's family, his childhood and the beginning of the Reformation, and it has been extended with modern exhibitions.

   Read the complete Luther's birthplace write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Luther's birthplace comes up about 87 km into the recorded legs. Next is Classical Weimar.

3. 3. Classical Weimar

   Weimar is small, about 65,000 people, and for a few decades around 1800 it was the cultural capital of the German-speaking world. Goethe moved here in 1775 at the invitation of the young Duke Carl August, and stayed for most of his life. Schiller came later, Herder and Wieland were already in town, and together they made the little court a place where poetry, philosophy and theatre were taken very seriously. The Goethe house on the Frauenplan and Schiller's house nearby are open to visitors, and the Park an der Ilm, a landscaped garden along the river, has Goethe's garden house. The UNESCO listing covers these and other buildings of the era.

   Read the complete Classical Weimar write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 182 km into the recorded legs you reach Classical Weimar. Next is back through Luther's birthplace.

4. 4. back through Luther's birthplace

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Luther's birthplace write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Luther's birthplace, late in the day. Next is The Masters’ Houses.

5. 5. The Masters’ Houses

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete The Masters’ Houses write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at The Masters’ Houses. That is the ride.