University sights in Europe
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Chernivsti University
Chernivsti University is like a trip on LSD. This fantastic red-brick ensemble, with coloured tiles decorating its pseudo-Byzantine, pseudo-Moorish and pseudo-Hanseatic wings, is the last thing you'd expect to see here. The architect responsible was Czech Josef Hlavka, who was also behind Chernivtsi's Former Armenian Cathedral, as well as large chunks of Vienna.
To the left as you pass the gatehouse is the Seminarska Church, now used for concerts and ceremonies. Straight ahead stands the former main palace residence of the Metropolitans, housing two remarkable staircases and a fantastic, 1st-floor Marmurovy Zal (hall). Whether you'll be able to access them is uncertain, b…
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Charles University
Central Europe's oldest university, founded by Charles IV in 1348, was originally housed in the so-called Rotlev House (Železná 9; -00M024B). With Protestantism and Czech nationalism on the rise, the reforming preacher Jan Hus became rector in 1402 and soon persuaded Wenceslas IV to slash the voting rights of the university's German students - thousands of them left Bohemia when this was announced.
The facilities of the ever-expanding university were concentrated here in 1611, and by the 18th century the old burgher's house had grown into a sizable complex, known as the Karolinum. After the Battle of Bílá Hora it was handed over to the Jesuits, who gave it a baroque mak…
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Freie Universität Berlin
The Free University was founded in 1948 in reaction to the growing restrictions on academic freedoms imposed on students and faculty at the Humboldt University, then in the Soviet sector. Lectures started in the spring of 1949 and were initially held in empty villas throughout Dahlem. In the 1960s the university played a leading role in the country’s student movement, which sparked major nationwide academic and political reforms. Today it is the largest of Berlin’s three public universities with nearly 40,000 students hitting the books in numerous buildings spread across Dahlem. The latest addition (2005) is the Philology Library, a masterpiece of modern architecture …
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Queen's University
If you think that Charles Lanyon's Queen's College (1849), a Tudor Revival building in red brick and honey-coloured sandstone, has something of an Oxbridge air about it, that may be because he based the design of the central tower on the 15th-century Founder's Tower at Oxford's Magdalen College.
Northern Ireland's most prestigious university was founded by Queen Victoria in 1845, one of three Queen's colleges (the others, still around but no longer called Queen's colleges, are in Cork and Galway) created to provide a nondenominational alternative to the Anglican Church's Trinity College in Dublin. In 1908 the college became the Queen's University of Belfast, and today its…
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Twelve Colleges
Marked by a statue of scientist-poet Mikhail Lomonosov (1711–65), the 400m-long Twelve Colleges building is one of St Petersburg’s oldest buildings. It was originally meant for Peter’s government ministries, but it is now part of the university, which stretches out behind it. Within these walls populist philosopher Nikolai Chernyshevsky studied, Alexander Popov created some of the world’s first radio waves and a young Vladimir Putin earned a degree in law. This is also where Dmitry Mendeleev invented the periodic table of elements, and the building now contains the Mendeleev Museum. His cosy study has been lovingly preserved and you can see his desk (where he alwa…
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Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
Bavaria's oldest university, the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität started out as political football for its rulers. Founded in Ingolstadt in 1472, it moved to Landshut in 1800 before being lassoed to Munich in 1826 by newly crowned King Ludwig I. It has produced more than a dozen Nobel Prize winners, including Wilhelm Röntgen in 1901 and Theodor Hiersch in 2005.
The main building, by Gärtner of course, has cathedral-like dimensions and is accented with sculpture and other art work. A flight of stairs leads to a light court with a memorial to Die Weisse Rose, the Nazi resistance group founded by Hans and Sophie Scholl. To get the full story visit the exhibit called Denk S…
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Palazzo Bò
The main part of the university is housed in Palazzo Bò. Bò means 'ox' in the Veneto dialect and is named after an inn that previously occupied the site. Established in 1222, the university is Italy's oldest after the one in Bologna. Europe's first anatomy theatre opened here in 1594, and Galileo Galilei taught at the university from 1592 to 1610. The main courtyard and its halls are plastered with coats of arms of the great and learned from across Europe.
Inside, aside from the beautiful, elliptical anatomy theatre, the highlights are a simple wooden lectern said to have been Galileo's and the Aula Magna, the main classroom until the 19th century (when the frescoes wer…
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Trinity College
Trinity College is one of the largest, wealthiest and most attractive colleges. It was established in 1546 by Henry VIII, whose statue peers out from the top niche of the great gateway (he’s holding a chair leg instead of the royal sceptre, the result of a student prank). Check the website for frequent free entry periods. The Great Court, the largest in either Cambridge or Oxford, incorporates some fine 15th-century buildings. Beyond the Great Court are the cloisters of Nevile’s Court and the dignified Wren Library, built by Sir Christopher in the 1680s.
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Latin Quarter
This small corner of the city centre has little in common with the Latin Quarter of Paris, but gets its nickname from the presence of the university (now home to the law faculty) and the secondhand bookshops and cafes that grew up around it. The Latin Quarter stretches east from Vor Frue Plads along Store Kannikestræde and Skindergade to Købmagergade, via the pretty Gråbrødretorv (Grey Friars’ Sq, founded in the mid-17th century), with its open-air restaurants and bars, and north up Fiolstræde to Nørre Voldgade. There are several inviting cafes, bars and interesting shops here.
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Studentenkarzer
From 1778 to 1914, students convicted of misdeeds, such as womanising, inebriation or freeing the local pigs, were tossed into the Studentenkarzer, behind the Alte Universität, where they were detained for at least three days and fed only bread and water. Delinquents doing more time could interrupt their sentence for critical reasons (say, to take exams). In certain circles, a stint in the Karzer was de rigueur to prove one's manhood. Judging by the inventive graffiti and inscriptions, some found their stay highly entertaining.
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Collegium Maius
The oldest surviving university building in Poland is the Collegium Maius, the Gothic structure that was built as part of the Kraków Academy. Guided tours (1pm, in English) give a glimpse at the historic interiors, as well as fascinating old scientific artefacts. In summer it's advisable to reserve in advance, either in person or by phone. If you can't get inside, it's still worth taking a look at the magnificent arcaded courtyard for which admission is free. There are a few additional exhibits for an extra charge.
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Ruprecht-Karls-Universität
Despite witty observations about boisterous student duels and drunkenness, Mark Twain points out that 'idle students are not the rule' in Heidelberg in his 1880 novel A Tramp Abroad. Indeed Germany's oldest university, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität, established in 1386 by Count Palatinate Ruprecht I, has plenty of gravitas with a student hall of fame starring composer Robert Schumann and chancellor Helmut Kohl. Today it comprises 18 faculties with 32,000 students from 80 nations.
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Tomsk University
The classically colonnaded main buildings of the Tomsk University lie in resplendently leafy grounds, giving Tomsk the soubriquet 'Oxford of Siberia'. Tomsk is one of the most enjoyable cities in Siberia and has flourished in recent times as a university city and now has half a dozen major academic establishments hence the youthful, intellectual atmosphere during term time. Tucked away in unmarked rooms, Tomsk University hosts several quietly intriguing museums covering zoology and ethnography.
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Trinity College
The country’s most famous university is an oasis of Victorian tranquillity in the middle of the city. Founded by Elizabeth I in 1592, most of the stunning buildings and landscaped squares date from the 18th and 19th centuries, but the campus’ single biggest attraction is much, much older – queue up to gape at the Book of Kells, one of the world’s most extraordinary illuminated manuscripts. Thirty-minute walking tours are available, see website for details.
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Attila József Science University
Further south of the city centre, Kárász utca meets Dugonics tér, site of the Attila József Science University, named after its most famous alumnus. József (1905-37), a much loved poet, was actually expelled from here in 1924 for writing the verse 'I have no father and I have no mother/I have no God and I have no country' during the ultraconservative rule of Admiral Miklós Horthy. A music fountain in the square plays at irregular intervals throughout the day.
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Church of St Bene't
The oldest structure in the county, the Saxon tower of this Franciscan church was built around 1025. The round holes above the belfry windows were designed to offer owls nesting privileges; they were valued as mouse killers. The church also has a Bible that belonged to Thomas Hobson, owner of a nearby livery stable, who told customers they could hire any horse they liked as long as it was the one nearest the door - hence the term 'Hobson's choice', meaning no choice at all.
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Universität Leipzig
On the west side of Augustusplatz, the run-down GDR-era Universität Leipzig, with its bronze relief depicting Karl Marx, is expected to soon have a date with the wrecking ball. Not too many Leipzigers will likely shed a tear, for many still remember the medieval Paulinerkirche which stood here until being demolished in 1968 by GDR authorities. A handful of beautiful epitaphs salvaged from the church are on display in a glass case on Grimmaische Strasse.
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Cambridge University
Five of the university colleges - King's, Queens', Clare, Trinity and St John's - charge tourist admission. Some other colleges deem visitors too disruptive and often deny them entry. Most colleges close to visitors for the Easter term and all are closed for exams from mid-May to mid-June. Opening hours vary year to year, so contact the colleges, the tourist office or the university's central information service for updates.
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Babeş-Bolyai University
The Babeş-Bolyai University, home to some 43,000 students, is the largest university in Romania (after Bucharest). Founded in 1872, Hungarian was the predominant language here until 1918. Internationally, it's famed for being the home to the world's only university institute of speleology (the study of caves). It's a lovely building, with its gold-brick centre courtyard, which you can peek into rather freely.
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Oxford University
Thirty-nine colleges make up the university, their elegant honey-coloured buildings wrapping around winding cobbled streets and attracting hoards of tourists each year. Yet despite the rushing traffic and throngs of people, inside their jealously guarded quadrangles an aura of studious calm descends. The oldest colleges date back almost 750 years and little has changed inside the hallowed walls since then.
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Queen Mary, University of London
A short distance to the west of Mile End Station is the campus of Queen Mary, University of London. It contains Novo Sephardic Cemetery, founded in 1733 by Spanish and Portuguese Jews. In the mid-1970s, when the college was expanding, some 7500 graves were emptied and the remains reburied in unmarked sites in Brentwood. These included the bones of the celebrated pugilist Daniel Mendoza.
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Lenin State University
At the foot of Kremlyovskaya ul, you can't miss the overbearing classical façade of the main building of Lenin State University, where Vlad Ilych himself was a student. Across the street, the statue of a young Lenin looks like he's on his way to class. However, the plaques don't tell us that he was actually expelled from the university for revolutionary activity and questionable connections.
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Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Above Bebek you'll notice the New England 19th-century-style architecture of the Boğaziçi Üniversitesi. Founded by American missionaries in the mid-19th century as Robert College, the college had an important influence on the modernisation of political, social, economic and scientific thought in Turkey. It was donated to the Turkish Republic in the early 1970s.
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Athens University
The splendid Athens University was designed by the Danish architect Christian Hansen and completed in 1864. It still serves as the university's administrative headquarters. On its left is the Athens Academy, designed by Hansen's brother Theophile and completed in 1885. The Ionian-style entrance mimics the eastern entrance to the Erechtheion. Neither is open to the public.
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Warsaw University
The central campus of Warsaw University was founded in 1816, although its oldest building, the Kazimierz Palace (Pałac Kazimierzowski), dates from 1634. With its leafy avenues and smiling students, it appears a peaceful place, but like any good university it has been a breeding ground for independent thought and the site of many student protests.
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