The two-storey building showing elements of the baroque style was built by Anton Georg Hauptmann. Charlotte von Stein lived in the west wing lived from 1776 until her death 50 years later; first with her three children and her husband Josias Freiherr von Stein, who was responsible for the court stable. The cultured lady-in-waiting became famous as the companion, confidant and platonic love of Johann Wolfgang Goethe during his first ten years in Weimar. They exchanged thoughts about poetry, science and politics - Goethe sent her nearly 1,700 letters and notes. Until 1794, the stables of the ducal hussars were accomodated in the ground floor, which were later used as function rooms and as a Russian-orthodox church for the czar´s daughter Maria Pavlovna during her reign in Weimar.    back