What is the Purpose of Anthroposophy and the Goetheanum?
GA 84
The destruction of the first Goetheanum on New Year's Eve 1922/23 meant that 1923 was dominated by the efforts to rebuild and reorganize the Anthroposophical Society. During his travels to Germany, Czechoslovakia, Norway, England, Austria and the Netherlands, Rudolf Steiner gave numerous lectures for the members of the Anthroposophical Society, but also specialized courses. An overview of this is given in the volume 'The Civilization Tasks of Anthroposophy and the Anthroposophical Society', GA Bibl. No. 259. The public lectures also given in 1923 are summarized in the present volume with the lecture given in Paris on May 26, 1924. The Dornach lectures were semi-public in that the participants of a public course for Swiss teachers (see “The Pedagogical Practice from the Point of View of Spiritual-scientific Knowledge of Man. The Education of the Child and Younger Person”, GA Bibl.-Nr. 306) were invited to these lectures, which were part of the regular weekend lectures for members of the Anthroposophical Society in Dornach.
The theme of the first lecture, “What did the Goetheanum want and what should anthroposophy do?” was presented in various cities in Switzerland after the fire (in Bern on April 5, in Basel on April 9, in Zurich on April 10, in Winterthur on April 11 and in St. Gallen on April 12). The lecture given in Basel was chosen for publication.
The title of the volume was chosen by the editors of the first edition according to the first lecture in this volume.