House of Lessing

Lessing's house is on Nikolaikirchplatz Square, in the center of the district of Nikolai. The original house was destroyed during World War II but it was rebuilt to mirror some pictures dating from before the war. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing lived in the middle of the eighteenth century and was a great German philosopher, considered the founder of modern German literature. He lived in Nikolai, and met the literary elite of the era of Enlightenment. The discussions inspired his writings. The Prussian king Friedrich II, despite being a hard governor, made speeches that demonstrated the influence of philosophers at the time.