The thick planks at the entryway conceal a trap door thorough which larger supplies, especially wine barrels, could be moved to the cellar.

The very well-tempered cellar vault had been an important reason for Goethe’s grandmother Cornelia Goethe to buy the house in 1733. As former owner of a large inn and as a wine dealer, she owned valuable stores of wine for which she needed an appropriate storage facility. The considerable family fortune traces back to her and her husband Friedrich Georg, who still went by Göthé.

The occupants themselves used the entryway to the cellar beneath the stairs.