Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach on 21 March 1685. He spent ten years of his childhood here, received his first music lessons and sang in the school choir and in the Church of St George. Throughout his life, he described himself as “Isenacus”. In 1907, the Neue Bachgesellschaft (New Bach Society) opened the Bachhaus (Bach House) as the world’s first Bach Museum. It was instructed to “collect and preserve everything relating to Johann Sebastian Bach and his life’s work”.
Today, the Bachhaus is one of the largest musician’s museums in Germany. Every hour there is a short concert on five Baroque keyboard instruments. Installations such as the “Walkable Composition” make Bach’s music a complete experience.
Visitors to the Bachhaus can currently still see the special exhibition "Picture Puzzles", which has now been extended due to the interruption. It deals with the numerous dubious Bach portraits, or those that are considered fake today, which nevertheless continue to shape the image of Bach today.
The Bach house Eisenach in Thuringia presents one of the most important exhibitions on the life and music of Johann Sebastian Bach with over 250 original exhibits on 600 square meters. Go to the online store here.
News
The first violin part of the chorale "Wer hat dich so geschlagen" from Bach's St. Matthew Passion, conducted by Mendelssohn in Leipzig in 1841, was long considered lost, along with other performance material. However, unrecognized for decades the music hung on the living room wall of a collector in Baden-Württemberg. After Bachaus director Jörg Hansen identified the piece during a visit in 2019, the collector has now donated the valuable artefact to the Bachhaus Eisenach, where it will be on display from now on.
Bachhaus Eisenach
Frauenplan 21, 99817 Eisenach
Due to the lockdown, the Bachhaus Eisenach is still closed.