The Goethe-Schiller Archive - the oldest literary archive in Germany - has been housed since 1896 in a building designed by the Weimar architect Otto Minckert in the style of the "Petit Trianon" in the park at Versailles, which Grand Duchess Sophie had built to house the manuscript estates of Goethe and Schiller. Under her patronage, the large historical-critical complete edition of Goethe's works, diaries and letters was compiled here, which was published in 143 volumes from 1887 to 1919 as the Weimar or Sophien edition. The collection contains Goethe's most important manuscripts, including the fair copy of Faust and the manuscripts of "Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre", "Italienische Reise" and "Dichtung und Wahrheit". The core of the estate is the archive started by Goethe himself. Today, the Goethe-Schiller Archive holds 111 estates, 11 collections of institutional origin and an autograph collection with individual manuscripts of more than 3000 personalities.

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Johann Wolfgang Goethe's literary estate was included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2001 as an important document of world literature.