Goethe House, Literary museum in Innenstadt district, Germany
The Goethe House is a four-story townhouse with rooms furnished as they were during the writer's time, including his study and a gallery of 18th-century paintings. The interior shows how a wealthy merchant family lived and worked during this period.
The building was constructed in 1618 for a goldsmith and underwent major restoration in 1755. Goethe was born here in 1749, a date that made it a landmark in German literary history.
The house shaped Goethe's early literary works and continues to influence how Germans understand their literary heritage. Walking through the rooms gives visitors a sense of how the writer lived and created during the 18th century.
The house can be explored together with neighboring museums through combination tickets. The rooms are connected by stairs, so comfortable walking shoes and some mobility are recommended.
Inside the house is an astronomical clock from 1746 that displays not just the time but also moon phases and zodiac signs through an intricate system of rotating rings. This handcrafted timepiece is a rare example of 18th-century mechanical engineering.
Location: Frankfurt-Innenstadt I
Location: Frankfurt
Inception: 1859
Accessibility: Wheelchair inaccessible
Operator: Freies Deutsches Hochstift
Address: Großer Hirschgraben 23
Opening Hours: Monday-Wednesday 10:00-18:00; Thursday 10:00-21:00; Friday-Sunday 10:00-18:00
Phone: +4969138800
Website: http://goethehaus-frankfurt.de
GPS coordinates: 50.11119,8.67767
Latest update: December 6, 2025 16:01
Frankfurt places you between centuries of history and one of Europe's tallest skylines. Medieval half-timbered houses at the Römer share the horizon with glass and steel towers that define the financial district. The Main Tower's observation deck shows you this contrast from above, while bridges like the Eiserner Steg let you watch how the skyscrapers reflect on the river's surface. You can photograph Gothic sandstone at the Cathedral in the morning, then walk to the Palmengarten to frame tropical plants inside 19th-century glass houses. The city's photography opportunities follow both banks of the Main River. The Museumsufer brings together classical museum buildings and modern galleries along the water, with steps where people gather when the sun comes out. Inside the Städel, natural light falls on seven centuries of European paintings. Kleinmarkthalle shows everyday life through market stalls and morning crowds, while the Alte Oper offers neo-Renaissance facades against the backdrop of office towers. Goethe's birthplace preserves 18th-century rooms in the middle of a city that keeps building upward, creating subjects that range from quiet interiors to bold geometric patterns on skyscraper walls.
Walk through the homes where some of the world's greatest writers lived and worked. This collection brings together historic residences that have been opened as museums and cultural centers, letting you step into the private world of authors who shaped literature across centuries. You'll find the houses where Charles Dickens wrote his novels, where Agatha Christie spent summers dreaming up mysteries, where Mark Twain penned his stories, and where many other writers found inspiration in their daily lives. These homes span across Europe and America—from France and England to the United States and Russia—each one telling the story of how these writers actually lived, what surrounded them, and where their most famous works came to life. Each house offers something different. You might visit a Georgian townhouse in London where Victorian novels were completed, explore a medieval fortress in the French countryside that inspired romantic memoirs, or walk through a tropical house in Florida where an American novelist typed away in his study. Some are modest farmhouses on remote islands, while others are grand estates with gardens and pavilions. Inside, you'll find original manuscripts, personal belongings, photographs, and furnishings that show how these writers worked and thought. Visiting these homes helps you understand that great literature didn't come from thin air—it came from real people in real spaces, dealing with their everyday lives while creating worlds on paper. Whether you're a devoted reader or simply curious about how writers lived, these houses give you a tangible connection to the authors whose words you may have read.
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