Germany and its coasts.

German literature can be traced back to the Middle Ages and the works of writers such as Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach. Well-known German authors include Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Theodor Fontane. The collections of folk tales published by the Brothers Grimm popularised German folklore on an international level. Influential authors of the 20th century include Gerhart Hauptmann, Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Böll and Günter Grass.[200] German-speaking book publishers produce some 700 million books every year, with about 80,000 titles, nearly 60,000 of them new. Germany comes third in quantity of books published, after the English-speaking book market and the People's Republic of China.[201] The Frankfurt Book Fair is the most important in the world for international deals and trading, with a tradition spanning over 500 years.[202]
German philosophy is historically significant. Gottfried Leibniz's contributions to rationalism; the enlightenment philosophy by Immanuel Kant; the establishment of classical German idealism by Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling; Arthur Schopenhauer's composition of metaphysical pessimism; the formulation of communist theory by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; Friedrich Nietzsche's development of perspectivism; Gottlob Frege's contributions to the dawn of analytic philosophy; Martin Heidegger's works on Being; and the development of the Frankfurt school by Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse and Jürgen Habermas have been particularly influential. In the 21st century, Germany has contributed to the development of contemporary analytic philosophy in continental Europe, along with France, Austria, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries

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German classical music comprises works by some of the world's most well-known composers, including Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johannes Brahms, Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss.
Germany is the largest music market in Europe, and third largest in the world.[196] German popular music of the 20th and 21st century includes the movements of Neue Deutsche Welle (Nena, Alphaville), Ostrock (City, Keimzeit), Metal/Rock (Rammstein, Scorpions), Punk (Die Ärzte, Die Toten Hosen), Pop rock (Beatsteaks, Tokio Hotel), Indie (Tocotronic, Blumfeld) and Hip Hop (Die Fantastischen Vier, Deichkind). Especially the German Electronic music gained global influence, with Kraftwerk being a pioneer group in this genre,[197] and the Minimal and Techno scenes in Germany being very popular (e.g. Paul van Dyk, Tomcraft, Paul Kalkbrenner and Scooter).
Architecture
Main article: Architecture of Germany


The "Sea Castle" on Usedom Island, a typical example of Resort architecture. This style is common at the German Baltic Sea coast.
Architectural contributions from Germany include the Carolingian and Ottonian styles, which were precursors of Romanesque. Brick Gothic in medieval times and Brick Expressionism in modern times are two distinctive styles that developed in Germany. Also in Renaissance and Baroque art, regional and typically German elements evolved (e.g. Weser Renaissance and Dresden Baroque).
Germany is especially renowned for its timber frame old towns, with many well-kept examples to be found along the German Timber-Frame Road, leading from the very south of Germany to Northern Germany and its coasts.
When industrialisation spread across Europe, Classicism and a distinctive style of historism developed in Germany, sometimes referred to as Gründerzeit style, due to the economical boom years at the end of the 19th century. Resort architecture and Spa architecture are sub-styles, that evolved since the 18th century in Germany, with the first modern spas and Seaside resorts of Europe. Many architects formed this era, with Schinkel, Semper, von Gärtner, Schwechten and Lipsius among them.
Jugendstil became a dominant architectural style at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, with a strong influence of the Art Nouveau movement.[198] The Art Deco movement did not gain much influence in Germany, instead the Expressionist architecture spread across the country, with e.g. Höger, Mendelsohn, Böhm and Schumacher being influential architects.
Germany was particularly important in the early modern movement - it is the home of the Bauhaus movement founded by Walter Gropius. And thus Germany is a cradle of modern architecture. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe became one of the world's most renowned architects in the second half of the 20th century. He conceived of the glass façade skyscraper.[199]
Renowned contemporary architects include Hans Kollhoff, Helmut Jahn, Behnisch, Albert Speer Junior, Frei Otto, Oswald Mathias Ungers, Gottfried Böhm, Stephan Braunfels and Anna Heringer