The monument was unveiled on September 30, 1999 in the courtyard of the Lutheran Church of Saints Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg - the historical space of German culture in the city. The monument was created on the initiative of the Consulate General of Germany.

The plaster mold for casting the bronze bust was created by the Russian sculptor Levon Konstantinovich Lazarev. He is known for a number of monuments in St. Petersburg dedicated to historical figures. The model for the monument was a cast of the poet's face kept in Weimar, made when Goethe was 58 years old. Due to it, the image of Goethe depicted in the bust is more realistic and significantly differs from some famous portraits.

The bust is mounted on a granite pedestal with inscriptions in Russian and German. Only Goethe's surname and the years of his life (1749-1832) are engraved on the front side. On the reverse side of the pedestal there is information that the monument was created at the expense of Mercedes Benz, Logovaz-Neva and the International Goethe Society on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang von Goethe birth.