University sights in Heidelberg
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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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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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