The pub where Goethe was inspired to write "Faust"

By: Gaby Reucher / Deutsche Welle

Auerbach's Cellar [Auerbachs Keller] is one of the most famous restaurants in the world. Every year, 36 beef rolls are consumed here, 90 liters of beer are served and the same amount of wine is served. "We have about 300 customers a year, many of them from abroad," says Tanja Pieper, the restaurant's spokeswoman and anniversary ambassador.

But more impressive than all these figures is the fact that the poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was inspired here, 250 years ago, to write his famous play FaustA scene in his book takes place in Auerbach, which still attracts Goethe admirers from all over the world to Leipzig today.

During the Easter season of 1525, the physician and professor at the University of Leipzig, Heinrich Stromer von Auerbach, served wine to his students for the first time in his cellar. He was a friend of Martin Luther. So much so that the church reformer Luther himself, at the beginning of the XNUMXth century, also frequented the bar, where he sometimes hid from his enemies.

This year, the Easter period marks the culmination of the 500th anniversary celebrations. This includes the grand feast: “We have copied this from Goethe; there is a feast of eating and drinking with great company [sluts"We celebrate at long tables like in the old days," Tanja Pieper tells DW. It is served on boards and in bowls like in the 18th century.

But what does it have to do with Faust Goethe's with Auerbach's Cellar?

Goethe's play centers on the old and melancholic teacher, Heinrich Faust, who sells his soul to Mephistopheles, the devil. Magically transformed into a young man, Faust is overcome by a new lust for life. But Mephistopheles continues to have an influence, for example when Faust seduces and impregnates the young Margaret (Gretchen). In despair, she kills her child out of wedlock, is arrested, and awaits God's salvation in prison.

Even in the scene that takes place in Auerbach's Cellar, Mephistopheles pulls his own stunts. He will introduce Faust to "a merry company." In front of the eyes of several drunkards, he creates delicious wine and later flies out of the cellar on a barrel. Today, in the cellar of the restaurant, nine meters underground, a very popular event takes place, the so-called "wine barrel ceremony." Actor Hartmut Müller has been accompanying visitors on a cultural and historical journey for 30 years. As the "master of the barrel cellar," he tells them the story as they pass under the building's many arches.

The cellar vaults are illustrated with legendary scenes. Food and drinks are served in the wine barrel cellar. “At a late hour, you then go down through a special door into the witch’s kitchen,” explains Tanja Pieper. It is a small room, twelve meters underground. Here, guests receive a rejuvenating drink – like Faust in Goethe’s play. “They have to recite the witch’s multiplication table and dance on one leg around the witch’s fire,” says Tanja Pieper, describing the fun activity.

Then it's all about winning the bet for the big barrel in the wine cellar. "If the guests manage to get the barrel out by rolling it out - then they can keep it, but the barrel remains under our supervision."

Goethe didn't invent it. Faustin and his flight over the barrel. It all stems from an old legend from the treasury of folk tales (Volksbuch by Johann Spies), which Goethe knew. In the barrel cellar he saw two wooden panels from 1625, which illustrated the flight of the legendary magician Dr. Faust with a barrel. It is said that he watched as the carriers tried to lift an extremely heavy barrel out of the wine cellar and made fun of them. He bet that he could get the barrel out by driving it.

“It certainly looks like the devil’s work when he pulls out the barrel and drives it,” says Pieper. “Goethe was so fascinated by these two wooden signs that hung there that he involved us in the drama.” Faust", she says. Today, the two signs hang in the restaurant's Goethe Room, which seats 30 people. A separate room has also been dedicated to Martin Luther – the Luther Room [Lutherstübchen] with the same number of seats.

In the 18th century, the place was still a tavern, where wine was drunk. “This cellar was very big at that time,” explains Tanja Pieper. Back then, wine was not bottled, but served from barrels, where it was stored. “There are paintings where you can see how it was drunk among the barrels.”

At that time, cooking was not done in the Auerbachs' Cellar. Food was prepared in the then Auerbachs Hof restaurant, which no longer exists, and was brought to the cellar. "In the 19th century, they started cooking in the Cellar and the dishes were served alongside drinks."

The anniversary activities also include Bach's Faust, a work by the director of the Bach Festival, Michael Maul. In Leipzig, Bach was choirmaster of the St. Thomas Church from 1723 until his death in 1750. His daily commute to work took him past Auerbach's Cellar. In Bach's honor, the city organizes the Bach Festival every June. “In Faustin "In Goethe's works, music is mentioned a lot, but Goethe does not specify exactly what it is about," explains Maul in an interview with DW. Goethe highly valued Bach's music. Therefore, in his piece, Michael Maul has commented on, illustrated and accompanied Faustin Goethe's chorales and cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach.

"When Faust is about to commit suicide, at the beginning of the drama, at the moment he puts the drink to his lips, he hears the Easter hymn from afar, Christ is risen.", explains Maul. The premiere of Bach's Faust with singers, musicians and actors will be performed as part of the Bahu Festival on June 15th in the Bodrum Grand Hall. The anniversary of the historic restaurant will be celebrated throughout the year. /DW/