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Celebrations Mark 90 Years of Bauhaus

Bauhaus, the modern design movement that originated in the eastern German city of Weimar, marks its 90th birthday on April 1. Celebrations will include a special exhibition at the city's Bauhaus Museum.

Bauhaus might be turning 90, but for enthusiasts of the German design movement, the art, furniture and architecture it inspired still looks fresh and young. The school was founded in 1919 by architect Walter Gropius, who wanted to create something bold and forward-thinking in the wake of World War I, which he described as a "catastrophe of world history."

Gropius was 35 when he applied to the city of Weimar to establish an academy there. By the time he received his permit, he'd penned a manifesto which would prove to be the beginning of an aesthetic upheaval that would reach far beyond Germany's borders.

In a pamphlet he wrote for an April 1919 exhibition entitled "Exhibition of Unknown Architects," Gropius described his goal as being "to create a new guild of craftsmen, without the class distinctions which raise an arrogant barrier between craftsman and artist."
Read entire article at Deutsche Welle