This project explores the political aspects of Weimar-Jena around 1800. In accordance with the principle of "cultural development", the politics of this time aimed at improving the living conditions of the people, without fully disregarding traditional power politics. Investment in infrastructure and the creation of cultural spaces for art, literature, science, and rational public discourse were considered as appropriate means to compensate deficits in this context in Weimar-Jena. The desired benefits of this strategy included publicity, prestige, and economic profit. Optimistic beliefs in progress as expressed in Herder's ideals of humanity, in Schiller's and Goethe's moral-aesthetic educational programs, and in Fichte's postulates of freedom found their way into the daily life and politics of Weimar-Jena via publications, sermons, lectures and government decrees. more >>