This area was probably the living area of Dr. Johann Balthasar Clauer, who was mentally ill and for whom Johann Caspar Goethe served as conservator. Clauer carried out paperwork for the family as far as his illness allowed. Here, in direct proximity, the young Johann Wolfgang Goethe experienced the brighter and darker sides of life.
Today the two rooms contain a small exhibit dedicated to Goethe’s Frankfurt life and work, among other things. In the first room historical views and writings offer glimpses of the everyday life of his family home and the city of his birth.
In contrast, the second exhibit room presents not only pieces of Goethe’s writing but also influences that were crucially formative. In his family home Goethe created his impressive early work, including Faust’s earliest version and The Sorrow of Young Werther, which made him famous overnight. At the same time the room contains information about the important currents and leading figures that lastingly influenced Goethe’s life and work.