Griesheim · Thuringia · since 1710
The Froebel House
A timber-framed house of 1710 in Griesheim — Friedrich Froebel lived here when he began his work.
The full storyTHE HISTORY
Three centuries, one house
In the heart of Griesheim in Thuringia stands a timber-framed house that carries its year of construction in stone: 1710, carved into the sandstone archway. It has been a princely summer residence, a forester’s lodge and a nursery garden — and for several months the place where a man whose ideas would change education worldwide began his life’s work: in 1816 Friedrich Froebel rented the upper floor here and founded his first school in this house.
On 13 November 1816, Froebel founded the Universal German Educational Institute („Allgemeine deutsche Erziehungsanstalt“) here in Griesheim — his first school, with five pupils from his own family. What began on so small a scale led on to Keilhau and finally to Bad Blankenburg, where Froebel founded the world’s first kindergarten in 1840.
THE EDUCATOR
Friedrich Froebel (1782–1852)
Friedrich Froebel is regarded as the founder of the kindergarten. Born in 1782 in Oberweissbach, only a few hours’ walk from here, he developed a pedagogy that takes play seriously: “Play is the highest stage of child development,” he wrote in 1826. His path as a founder of schools began in 1816, in Griesheim.
IMPRESSIONS
The house today
The Froebel House (Fröbelhaus) is privately owned today and is being carefully preserved.
„Friedrich Fröbel begann hier sein Wirken für deutsche Erziehung.“ — “Friedrich Froebel began here his work for German education.”
CONTACT
Griesheim, Thuringia
The Froebel House stands in Griesheim, a part of Stadtilm in the Ilm district — between Erfurt and Rudolstadt, in the heart of Froebel country among Oberweissbach, Keilhau and Bad Blankenburg. It is a lived-in heritage building in private hands, not a museum. If you would like to learn more about the house and its history, you are warmly welcome to write to us.