Kochberg Castle in Großkochberg

Castle, Park and Liebhabertheater (Connoisseur’s Theater) Kochberg

Located about 30 km south of Weimar, the former country estate of the von Stein family gained fame through Goethe's love for Charlotte von Stein and his frequent visits between 1775 and 1788. The manor is almost completely preserved with castle, park, nursery, patronage church, surrounding courtyard buildings and a freestanding theater.

History

The moated castle was built around 1600 in the Renaissance style. In 1733, Kochberg became the property of the Barons von Stein, who used it as a country estate and had some renovations carried out. Charlotte von Stein and her eldest son Carl made Kochberg Castle a musical and social center in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The museum in the castle displays furniture and art objects from the former possession of the von Stein family. The highlight of the furnishings is the desk on which Goethe himself immortalized the dates of some of his visits in ink.

Around 1800, Carl von Stein built the Liebhabertheater (Connoisseur's Theater), creating his own court of the muses on the country estate, following the Weimar model. The classicist theater with its portico is part of the European Route of Historic Theaters. The stage and auditorium are festively decorated with hand-marbled paper wallpaper and floral borders. The Liebhabertheater Kochberg Castle, an operating theater of the Weimar Classic Foundation (www.liebhabertheater.com), invites visitors from May to October on weekends to opera, theater performances, and chamber concerts with renowned artists in the small authentic theater of Goethe's time, with a special attention given to historical performance practice.
Carl von Stein also initiated the transformation of the originally Baroque "Great Garden" into a six-hectare neo-classical-romantic landscape park. Under magnificent old trees, winding paths lead to a canvas house, a tower ruin, a grotto complex with a burial ground, a bathing lake, and an exceptional flower garden.
The castle restaurant offers homemade cakes and regional dishes with game specialties.