Bauhaus Workshop Museum Dornburg

November to March:
Wednesday - Sunday: 10:00 - 16:00

April to October:
Tuesday - Sunday: 10:00 - 17:00

• Bad weather offer
• for all weathers
• for school classes
• for families
• for individual guests
• Suitable for seniors
• for children (3-6 years)
• for children (6-10 years)
• for children (from 10 years)

• German
• English

• Cash payment
• Bank transfer

• Children's play corner (inside)
• WC facility
• Barrier-free WC

Normal price: 6,00€
Reduced: 4,00€

Combination ticket (Bauhaus Workshop Museum Dornburg, Dornburg Castles & Ceramics Museum Bürgel) :
normal price: 10,00€
Reduced: 7,00€

guided tour: 40,00€
(only possible after previous registration!)

Please note that direct access via Jenaer Straße (exit from Bundesstraße 88 in the Saale valley) is only possible for vehicles with a maximum permissible gross weight of 3.5t. Larger (coaches) must use the following routes, depending on the direction of travel: - From Jena/Weimar: on the B7 to Isserstedt, then turn off towards Apolda and via Vierzehnheiligen, Krippendorf, Altengönna, Lehesten, Nerkewitz, Stiebritz, Zimmern to Dornburg.
- From the B88 from Camburg on the signposted detour directly in front of the museum as well as on the nearby market place, there are sufficient parking facilities for cars and larger (travel) buses.
Via Zug, you can reach us from both directions (Jena/Naumburg) as far as the Dornburg (Saale) stop, after which a 20-minute walk (with a few steps) along the signposted path up to the Dornburg castles is recommended. In addition, the Saale-Horizontale (hiking trail) as well as the Saale cycle path leads through the village of Dornburg.

Note: for buses the turning loop at the market place is

Since 2010, the Förderkreis Keramik-Museum Bürgel und Dornburger Keramik-Werkstatt e.V. has been working with many partners and supporters towards the goal of permanently securing handcrafted ceramics production in Dornburg, preserving the tradition in its original location and communicating it to the public. The historical part of the workshop, with the two large rooms of the former Marstall building of the Grand Ducal Palace, has been made accessible in the course of an elaborate museum design process - naturally always under the premise of preserving the authentic workshop atmosphere!

In addition, the modern museum extension illustrates the entire history of the workshop's various periods of use with a whole host of ceramic vessels, as well as painted works and historical documents. In chronological order, the visitor himself can embark on a journey of discovery of the Dornburg pottery history, which has much more to offer in addition to the period of use by the State Bauhaus Weimar!

When Walter Gropius, founder and director of the Weimar Bauhaus, had the ceramics workshop of his art and design school established in the remote small town of Dornburg in 1920, he created a very special place of activity. The conditions around 1920 were even poorer, even more cramped, even more difficult than in the founding location of the Bauhaus 30 km away. And yet an incomparable creativity unfolds here, perhaps precisely because of its simplicity and proximity to nature. The new Bauhaus Workshop Museum aims to capture the aura of this place and make the work, as well as the living conditions of the students, masters and ceramists working here, understandable. Through the two authentic workshop rooms, in which you will find original, preserved inventory, you will experience a vivid impression of the working atmosphere of the former Bauhaus pottery. Some special tools of the traditional craft, which also form a technical monument, include the still functioning plaster turntable from the 1920s, where Otto Lindig and Theodor Bogler created their style-defining designs for storage containers, jugs and dishes, some of which are still in production today. Both tools symbolize through their hundred years of history not only the high quality of the pottery produced here, but also the continuity of the institutionalized pottery tradition in Thuringia. In addition, in the newly attached exhibition complex of the museum, the entire history of the workshop is presented in a diachronic manner through a wealth of ceramic objects from the respective workshop period, various photographic material, drawings, sketches and paintings as well as contemporary historical documents. The artistic diversity of the personalities who once worked here is particularly impressive, ranging from sketchy designs and caricature-like drawings by Gerhard Marcks, to an impressive oil painting by the talented Bauhaus student Johannes Driesch, to the famous woodcut anus production of Wilhelm Loeber and his "Bathing Bauhäusler". It is precisely these works that show in an impressive way that the universal artistic educational ideal of the Bauhaus was literally placed in the "training cradle" of the students of this exceptional school. The subsequent period of use of the ceramics workshop by Otto Lindig is also illustrated with extensive exhibits and personal documents. One of these is Otto Lindig's Grand Prix vase, which was designed close to perfection in terms of craftsmanship and was to introduce Lindig's international recognition and success at the 1937 Paris World Exhibition. The sometimes so filigreely turned and detailed pieces, which often give the impression of cast porcelain, show the masterly craftsmanship of the potter icon and his students, such as Liebfriede Bernstiel, Walburga Külz or Johannes Leßmann, who in the following years became probably the most renowned ceramists of the twentieth century in the German-speaking world. However, the period of use of the Dornbuger Keramikwerkstatt by the management of Heiner Hans Körting, which probably began after the Lindig era, represents the longest lasting, continuous ownership of the pottery in its more than 40 years of existence. During the almost five decades of the Körting workshop, which were followed by almost 20 years of continuation by the youngest son Ulrich Körting, a third phase of significant ceramic-historical relevance for the location Dornburg and the regions of the pottery landscape Thuringia extending beyond it was created in Dornburg. This period of the Körting family of potters' work and creativity, which is also outstanding for the history of the town, is embodied in our museum by many outstanding objects and shows the visitor the equally rich and varied selection of exhibits of the individual family members. In addition to the probably most famous designs of various vases with earth-coloured incised and notched decorations as well as animal-figurative variations, the museum also shows Heiner Hans as well as Lisa Körting's sculptural-picturesque oeuvre, which can be found in seasonal murals, numerous animal and nature drawings or larger, abstract-looking mosaics on fireclay plates. Of course, more recent works by the still active master potter Ulrich Körting can also be admired, who in turn, in addition to the ceramic heritage of his father, which he carries on above all through the popular rotary head pieces, has produced a very individual style and, for example, with dyed clays and broken up, object-related works, provides new variations and interpretations of Körting ceramics.