Bauhaus Dessau
UNESCO World Heritage Site: Bauhaus And Its Sites In Weimar, Dessau And Bernau (1996); Walter Gropius'S School Building Of 1926 With Its Glass Curtain Wall, Plus The Masters' Houses And The Toerten Estate · Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt
The Bauhaus building in Dessau is Walter Gropius's school of 1926, and one of the handful of buildings that decided what the twentieth century looked like: a pinwheel of linked wings, a glass curtain wall hung clear of the structure, flat roofs, a bridge block over the road and the vertical lettering on the corner. With the Masters' Houses a few minutes away, the Toerten housing estate across town and the sister sites in Weimar and Bernau, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996. Be clear who this trip is for. If you design buildings, objects, furniture or type, this is a pilgrimage and you will spend half a day on one staircase. If you do not, you are looking at a well-kept concrete and glass school building in a quiet, bombed and rebuilt industrial town, and you may well find it underwhelming - the rooms are mostly empty, the famous objects are in the separate museum in the centre, and Dessau offers little else. The compensation, for anyone, is that you can book a night in a student studio in the Prellerhaus and have the place to yourself after closing.
Gropiusallee 38, Dessau, with the Masters' Houses a short walk north-west, Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
The Bauhaus building and the Bauhaus Museum Dessau in the town centre normally open daily, with the building's interior accessible either on a guided tour or on a self-guided ticket depending on the day - confirm which applies to your date, because rooms are also used for teaching and events and can close without notice. The Masters' Houses keep similar hours and are often closed one weekday, as most German museums are. The Toerten estate is a lived-in housing scheme you walk around freely at any hour, with one small museum house on limited opening. Expect reduced winter hours across all sites, and closures around Christmas and New Year - confirm.