University sights in Germany
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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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A
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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B
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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C
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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D
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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E
Rostock's University
The university is the oldest on the Baltic (founded 1419), and currently has about 11,000 students.
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F
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