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Bauhaus
- (house of building) a school of arts and crafts founded at Weimar in Germany in 1906
by the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar. Under Van de Velde, school was very progressive. Walter
Gropius was appointed principal in 1919 and, still craft based, the school gained international
reputation. Direction changed after move to Dessau in 1925, after which Bauhaus design became
very functional simplistic and plain, and in effect changed the face of 20th century architecture.
Mies van de Rhoe took over in 1928. School closed by Nazis in 1933, and staff mainly dispersed
to USA where they were extremely influential. Gropius's buildings at Dessau survived. They
became a World heritage Site in 1996, when
restoration work began.