The Baroque palace from the 17th century, with the church Schlosskirche where a number of works by Johann Sebastian Bach were premiered, was replaced by a Neoclassical structure after a fire in 1774.

From 1923, the building has housed the Schlossmuseum, a museum with a focus on paintings of the 15th and 16th centuries and works of art related to Weimar, a cultural centre.

[4] In the 1650s Johann Moritz Richter was engaged by Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar to modify the design to a symmetrical Baroque structure with three wings, open to the south.

Duke Carl August formed a commission for its reconstruction directed by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, who had arrived at the court in 1775.

In 1816, Clemens Wenzeslaus Coudray began plans for the west wing, which was reopened in 1847 with a court chapel.

The wing contained the so-called Dichterzimmer (poets' rooms), initiated by Duchess Maria Pavlovna.