Bust of Goethe in Karlovy Vary, Marble bust in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic

The marble bust of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, sculpted by Adolf Donndorf of Stuttgart, stands on a lower granite pedestal on a stone-block terrace along Goethe's Path on the left bank of the Teplá River. A white marble cartouche on the front bears a gilded inscription. The original tall, relief-decorated pedestal was lost in 1946 and rediscovered in 2014.

The bust was made by Stuttgart sculptor Adolf Donndorf and unveiled in 1883 in the Pupp Alley in front of the Parkhotel Pupp, funded by the city; Heinrich Laube gave the speech. In 1946 it was removed during the national cleansing, the bust went to a museum and the marble pedestal was dumped as rubble. In 1952 the bust was placed on a lower granite base on today's Goethe Path.

The sculpture marks a place where the famous German author repeatedly came to experience the town's healing waters. His connection to this spa town runs deep through local memory and the paths visitors still walk today.

The monument sits along a popular walking route through town and is easy to reach on foot. Visitors can incorporate it into a stroll and stop at this point while following one of the established paths.

The original marble pedestal, one and a half metres tall, was thrown into a pit in 1946 and lost. A digger unearthed it by chance in winter 2014 during car park construction; since 16 September 2018 it stands unrestored on Goethe's Path near the bust's first location.