The stables @museum.de

In his passion for ostentation, Ernst August was not content with the Rococo Palace. On either side of the palace, there were pavilions and screen walls that made the ensemble look wider. There were also plans to complete the grouping by erecting two mirror-image buildings on the other side of the road.

Of these two structures, only one was actually built: the single-storey ducal stables and a two-storey pavilion with a pink and yellow colour scheme to match the Rococo Palace. The pavilion, also known as the "Cavalier’s House", originally house the kitchen as well as accommodation for noble visitors. The servants' bedrooms were located in the attic above the stables.

In 1920, after the end of the monarchy, the building became the property of the state, and the Thuringian government approved a change of use. That same year, the ceramics class of the newly founded Weimar Bauhaus moved into the ducal stables. Max Krehan, a master potter from Dornburg, trained the students in practical skills, while Gerhard Marcks was what the Bauhaus called the "form master" – in charge of artistic aspects.

The Bauhaus only operated in Dornburg for five years. But those were crucial years that established a completely new trend in German ceramic art. Theodor Bogler, Otto Lindig, Marguerite Friedlaender – many of the most important ceramicists of the 20th century received their training in Dornburg.

When the Bauhaus moved to Dessau, there was no new pottery class at the new venue. In Dornburg, Otto Lindig took over the management of the workshop and continued to make an outstanding contribution to pottery in the Bauhaus style and to training in line with its principles. Lindig gave up the workshop after the Second World War...

... but within a short time, it was back in operation, this time under Gerda and Heiner Hans Körting from Berlin. Pottery is still being made there, in what used to be the kitchen in the building’s right wing. Ulrich Körting, son of Hans Heiner and his second wife Lisa, now carries on the family business.

And since 2019, the left wing of the building has housed a museum: the Bauhaus Workshop Museum Dornburg. It’s the only Bauhaus workshop that has been preserved in its original location, allowing visitors to experience the revolutionary years of the art school’s existence. Please feel free to drop in!