''Die Propyläen'' was a periodical begun in July 1798 by

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

and his friend Johann Heinrich Meyer.

Impetus

During the journal's short, three-year existence its various contributors and editors, for example, shown in essays by

Wilhelm von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (22 June 1767 – 8 April 1835) was a German philosopher, linguist, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin. In 1949, the university was named aft ...

and Friedrich von Schiller, sought to address, disseminate, and foment ideas and fundamental conceptions concerning art and aesthetic processes and therewith to determine, on cultural and social levels of influence, what characterizes art's essential import and its practice by artists. Alike to

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

's '' Die Horen'', the journal's basic impetus was to extend the reach of classical values in art. Through its German name, "''Propyläen''" (from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''προπύλαιον'', ''propylaion'', pl. ''προπύλαια'', ''propulaia'', an entryway to a building), which can be translated to English as "

Propylaea In ancient Greek architecture, a propylaion, propylaeon or, in its Latinized form, ''propylaeum''—often used in the plural forms propylaia or propylaea (; Greek: προπύλαια)—is a monumental gateway. It serves as a partition, separat ...

", the periodical, including its various themes, was to represent a uniquely cultural "entryway"; and thus, it symbolized the building that is life into which the artist is required to enter.

External links

“Introduction to the ''Propyläen''” by Goethe
Defunct literary magazines published in Germany German-language magazines Magazines established in 1798 Magazines disestablished in 1801 Mass media in Frankfurt Visual arts magazines published in Germany Works by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe {{Germany-lit-mag-stub