Mickiewicz was in Weimar in August 1829 and met Johann W. von Goethe there, among others, and also attended his 80th anniversary celebrations. His portrait was made there at the time by the famous French sculptor Pierre-Jean David d'Angers.

In the same historic Weimar park on the banks of the River Ilm, statues of Alexander Pushkin (1949) and Sándor Petöfi were erected during the GDR period, co-creating a set of tributes by the new people of Germany to the Romantic bards from the 'brotherly' countries. The author of the portrait of Mickiewicz, Gerhard Thieme, graduated from the Berlin Academy of Arts in 1956. He produced numerous commemorative works for official commissions from the GDR authorities. Many of his works can now be found in Berlin's public spaces. The traditional portrait formula here is linked to the requirements of the socialist realist doctrine in force at the time, and in this respect Thieme's work is worth contrasting with his contemporaries in Polish sculpture.

The monument was repaired and restored in 2010 after an unsuccessful attempt to steal the bust.