Bauhaus Dessau

The Bauhaus in Dessau was one of the most famous schools of architecture and art. Hardly any building embodies “modernity” more than the Bauhaus and the college of the same name, which ran from 1925 to 1932.

The Bauhaus began in Weimar in 1919. However, the college had to leave Weimar as early as 1924 for political reasons. Despite the short time, the Bauhaus made great history in Weimar, as can be seen in the Bauhaus Museum there. The new centre for the Bauhaus became Dessau. After opening in 1926, the School of Design developed at that time as a centre of attraction for young people from all over the world. The focus was on designing modernity in all its demands. Today, these ideas are represented by the Bauhaus Museum in Dessau.

It was reopened in 2019 and displays the second-largest collection on the Bauhaus worldwide with 49,000 art objects. The Bauhaus building, the Masters' Houses, the Consume building and the houses in the Dessau-Törten estate, the Kornhaus, as well as the Steel House and the historic Labour Office: all these Bauhaus buildings can be visited in Dessau.

The guided tours provide special insights into the design of the buildings. You learn how the students worked and the masters lived, the artists were taught, and the architecture was translated into reality. There is also an app that visitors can use to explore the buildings and the exhibition interactively and individually. The physical well-being is catered for with cafés, restaurants and the historic canteen.

The university building, designed by Walter Gropius, was opened in Dessau in 1926. After a few years, in 1932, the National Socialists voted to close the School of Design. Thus, in 1933, its dissolution was announced. Although the Bauhaus was closed, its ideas spread throughout the world through its professors and students. It was not until 1976 that the GDR rediscovered the Bauhaus heritage. It was then rebuilt and reconstructed in a manner befitting a monument. The Scientific-Cultural Centre was created in the process. Since 1996, the Bauhaus in Dessau has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2019, the Bauhaus Museum in Dessau was reopened.

You can reach the Bauhaus Dessau by car or by train.

If you come by car, you can park here: 

• Bauhaus Museum car park
• "Rathaus Center" underground car park

By train, you first have to get to Dessau main station. From there it is a 10-minute walk to the Bauhaus Dessau.