Bust of Johann Wolfgang goethe

myminifactory

Goethe became a literary sensation by age 25, earning the favor of Carl August, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, who ennobled him in 1782 after he settled in Weimar in November 1775 following the success of his debut novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther. An early leader in the Sturm und Drang literary movement, Goethe played a key role in shaping its direction. During his first decade in Weimar, Goethe served as a member of the Duke's privy council and sat on the war and highway commissions. He oversaw the reopening of silver mines near Ilmenau, implemented administrative reforms at the University of Jena, and helped design Weimar's botanical park and rebuild its Ducal Palace. In 1998, these landmarks were jointly designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Goethe published his groundbreaking scientific work, The Metamorphosis of Plants, after returning from an Italian tour in 1788. By 1791, he was running the theatre at Weimar as managing director, and by 1794, he had formed a close friendship with Friedrich Schiller, whose plays he premiered until Schiller's death in 1805. During this period, Goethe published his second novel, Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, the verse epic Hermann and Dorothea, and, in 1808, the first part of his most celebrated drama, Faust. His conversations with notable thinkers like Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Johann Gottfried Herder, Alexander von Humboldt, Wilhelm von Humboldt, August Schlegel, and Friedrich Schiller have been collectively remembered as Weimar Classicism.