11College of Architecture - Workshop Building

he workshop building and the main building opposite were built by Henry von de Velde. Here you can see murals and reliefs by Bauhaus master Oskar Schlemmer. They were reconstructed in 1979/80. Schlemmer originally designed the foyer and staircase for the Bauhaus exhibition in 1923. However, during the school holidays in October 1930, the new National Socialist director of the university, Paul Schultze-Naumburg, had the works removed. The destruction was linked to the "Weimar iconoclasm", in which modern works of art were removed from the State Art Collections.
The Bauhaus had already been expelled from Weimar to Dessau in 1925; however, its successor institution had so far continued its aims in a moderate form. On 1 April 1930, the painter and architect Schultze-Naumburg took up his post as director of the former Bauhaus, which was now called the State Academy of Architecture, Fine Arts and Crafts. Schultze-Naumburg attacked modern forms of design in line with his racist, "down-to-earth" view of architecture and art. He had become known for his book "Kunst und Rasse" (Art and Race), in which he juxtaposed paintings by modern artists with photos of disabled people. As director, he replaced almost all of the teaching staff. The majority of the previous student body also left the university as a result.