 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a significant German poet The culture of Germany is quite diverse as a result of the history of Germany. Germany did not exist as a single nation state until 1871. Previously, many parts of Germany were ruled as independent principalities (as Liechtenstein remains) or incorporated into larger confederations, such as the Holy Roman Empire, Prussia or the Confederation of the Rhine. The German federal government has limited responsibilites for culture, which is devolved to the Länder.
Approximately 67 percent of the German population belong to a Christian denomination, of whom roughly half are Roman Catholic and half are Protestant (the figures are known quite accurately because Germany imposes a church tax on those who disclose a religious affiliation). Germany formed a substantial part of the Roman Catholic Holy Roman Empire, but was also the source of Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther. Historically, Germany had a substantial Jewish population. Only a few thousand people of Jewish origin remained in Germany after the Holocaust, but the German Jewish community now has approximately 100,000 members, many from the former Soviet Union. Germany also has a substantial Muslim minority, many from Turkey.
Germany has made a signifcant contribution to art and music. Famous German fine artists include the Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer, the surrealist Max Ernst, the expressionist Franz Marc, the conceptual artist Joseph Beuys or the neo expressionist Georg Baselitz. Famous German composers include Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Schumann and Wagner. The German Bauhaus school has a large influence on modern architecture.
The German language was once the lingua franca of central, eastern and northern Europe, and remains one of the most popular foreign languages taught worldwide, in Europe the second most popular after English. Many important historical figures, though not citizens of Germany in the modern sense, were nevertheless seen as Germans in the sense that they were immersed in the German culture, for example Mozart, Franz Kafka and Stefan Zweig.
Germany is known as das Land der Dichter und Denker (The Land of Poets and Thinkers). Famous German poets include Goethe, Schiller or Heine; German prose authors include Günter Grass, Hermann Hesse, Max Frisch and Bert Brecht; German philosophers including Leibniz, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Heidegger; German theologians include Luther.
Since about 1970, Germany has once again had a thriving popular culture, now increasingly being led by its new old capital Berlin and the city of Hamburg, and a self-confident music and art culture. Germany is also well known for its many opera houses.
German cuisine varies from region to region, but concentrates on meat (especially sausage) and varieties of sweet dessert and cakes (such as Black Forest gateau Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte) and stollen (a fruit cake). German also produces a large quantity of beer, and (mostly white) wine, particularly Riesling, but also Müller-Thurgau and other varietes.
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