Historic Showrooms

The original High Hall in the east tower, called the "Hall of Vanity" by Duke Ernest I (1601–1675), comprised the second and third floors without an intermediate ceiling and was used for festive occasions. Between the 20 windows hung tall paintings of the ducal family created by the Gotha court painter Michael Käseweiß and the Weimar court painter Christian Richter. Later, forty panels depicting the life of Christ and the pagans (or the Antichrist) were added. These had previously been in the church of Wilhelmsburg Castle in Schmalkalden. A few years after the "iconoclasm" that occurred there in 1608, they were given to Duke Ernst I. as a gift. The biblical verse "All is vanity" from the Preacher Solomon ran around the edge of the ceiling. In 1678, the entire tower was destroyed by a smouldering fire in one of the chimney shafts, resulting in the loss of all furnishings.

The rebuilding of the tower began in 1684. In 1703, the library found its new home in the hall completed on the second floor. The furnishings were kept simple. Only the pillars and the wooden shelves standing in the room were framed in gold. Here and in the adjoining three rooms, the books were arranged thematically according to the system developed by Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff in the 1650s. The hall served as a showroom for travellers visiting the library and as a reading and study area for the library staff and other users. Today, many historical journals and the extensive collection of funeral sermons are located here.

In the Hall of Mirrors, also referred to as the Picture Gallery, the princes originally dined with guests. In the 19th century, the hall also served as the ducal living room, as can be seen in old photographs. Today it serves as a venue for the Gotha Research Library. The annual exhibitions are held here, for example.

The Historical Coin Cabinet was established in 1713. It is one of the few coin cabinets in Europe that has survived almost completely unaltered from the early 18th century. A copper engraving in the "Gotha Numaria" by the numismatist Christian Sigismund Liebe (1687-1736) from 1730 proves the authenticity of this uniquely furnished room in its present state. In 1712, Duke Friedrich II (1676-1732) acquired the famous coin collection of Prince Anton Günther II of Schwarzburg-Arnstadt (1653-1716). It comprised more than 18,800 coins and medals from antiquity to the present day. To adequately represent this collection, the Italian fresco painter Giovanni Francesco Marchini (c. 1672-1745) designed the room in the style of the Italian quadrature that cannot be found anywhere else in Thuringia. On each of the side walls are seven double-door coin cabinets. Between them are pedestals upon which gilded plaster busts of the first twelve Roman emperors from Julius Caesar to Nero and Domitian rest. The two halves of the ceiling are painted with four allegories of the then known continents of Europe, Africa, America and Asia.

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The magnificent Geography Room with its valuable ceiling décor and parquet flooring dates back to the 18th century. The initials adorning the ceiling, "F" and "LD" for Duke Friedrich III (1699-1772) and his wife Luise Dorothea (1710-1767), indicate that it was used as a living or social room at court. The ceiling painting features two female allegories. The one holding a compass and the floor plan of Friedenstein Palace refers to architecture. The other depicted with a mirror and a snake refers to the cardinal virtue of prudence. This is also revealed by the words on the banner "Virtus et Sapientia" (Prudence and Wisdom). This was part of the efforts of this ducal couple to self-fashion themselves as patrons of the arts and sciences. The chandelier was made in Bohemia. The parquet floor consists of eight different precious woods. The current name of the room goes back to the collections on geography that have been set up here partially since the middle of the 20th century.