Old "Tavern at the river lahn"

Short facts

  • Dausenau
  • historic sites

The Wirtshaus an der Lahn is located directly on the banks of the Lahn and was built in 1680.

In its almost 350-year history, the half-timbered house has offered many skippers and carters a safe place to stop for the night. During the Thirty Years' War, the Wirtshaus an der Lahn catered for troops. In the winter of 1814, General Blücher spent the night in the Wirtshaus an der Lahn. An oak table from this period can still be found in the inn. Goethe, who visited the inn more than half a dozen times between 1774 and 1815, carved his name on the tabletop of the oak table:

"Water alone makes you dumb - as the fish in the stream show. Wine alone makes you stupid - see the gentlemen at the table. Since I don't want to be either - I drink water with wine."

The saying was still legible on the tabletop, which was protected by a glass plate, until 1935. Goethe had previously been sitting at the table drinking wine spritzers, which is why he was ridiculed by the gentlemen sitting at the neighbouring table.

On the map

Lahnstraße 12

56132 Dausenau


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