Friedrich Schiller spent the last three years of his life and creative life in the house on the Esplanade. The great dramas "The Bride of Messina" and "William Tell" were written here before the poet died in his study in 1805. The original desk and Schiller's bed can still be seen there today.

From 1984 to 1988, another museum building was erected next to Friedrich Schiller's historic home. It was originally dedicated to the life and work of the versatile poet. It is the only new building for a literary museum in the GDR. Today, temporary exhibitions of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar are held here.