Most people visit Marbach because of its famous citizen Friedrich Schiller, German poet, dramatist, historian and philosopher. He was born here on November 10, 1759. His house is a modest half timbered, unpretentious building on Necklastorrestrasse, which shows that his parents were of limited means. There is a sculpture of him in one room and a list of places in Germany where memorials to him have been set up like in Leipzig, Dresden, Weimar and other places. A few articles which he used as a baby are also on display.
The village itself is picture perfect with its narrow cobbled streets, its half-timbered houses, and little Arts and Crafts shops that line the narrow lanes. This village has many old churches. The Alexander Kirche is well preserved and Wendolin’s Kapelle is supposed to be the only Gothic chapel in Germany, with large rectangular windows. The historic Town Hall has been preserved from 12th century.
In the park on Schillerhohe, is the imposing Schiller Monument. The foundation stone was laid on Schiller’s 100th birthday in 1859. But it took another forty years before completion until Emperor Wilhelm I ordered thirty two hundred weights of bronze from French canons to be cast into the sculpture. It was completed only in 1876.
The monument overlooks the Schiller National Museum which houses a large collection of Schiller’s works and mementos.
Next to this building is German Literary Archives – a modern building of distinguished architecture. It houses autographed manuscripts, books, documents and representative phases of literature since the 18th century onwards. An audio guide gives details of the works on display by German writers like Kafka, Hesse, Goethe, Eric Kastner, Thomas Mann and others. One can spend hours looking through these manuscripts and learning about the authors. No wonder Marbach is now called ‘The destination of Book worms.”
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