Humbolt Universitat

Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

Historic Mitte

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Marx and Engels studied here, and the Brothers Grimm and Albert Einstein taught here: Humboldt is Berlin’s oldest university, founded in 1810 in a palace built by Frederick the Great for his brother Heinrich. Statues of the uni’s founder, philosopher Wilhelm von Humboldt, and his explorer brother Alexander flank the main entrance.

The university had produced 29 Nobel laureates by the 1950s, including Max Planck (physics, 1918) and Albert Einstein (physics, 1921). The last prize went to Werner Forssmann for medicine in 1956. These days, some 32,500 students try to follow this illustrious legacy.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • Museum island on Spree river and Alexanderplatz TV tower in center of Berlin, Germany

    Museumsinsel

    0.25 MILES

    Walk through ancient Babylon, meet an Egyptian queen, clamber up a Greek altar or be mesmerized by Monet's ethereal landscapes. Welcome to Museumsinsel …

  • Neues Museum und Alte Nationalgalerie (right) at Museumsinsel in Berlin.

    Neues Museum

    0.22 MILES

    For over 60 years, not a soul was able to visit Berlin’s Neues Museum – in fact, it sat in ruins. But today it’s one of the city’s most celebrated…

  • The Museumsinsel in Berlin

    Pergamonmuseum

    0.27 MILES

    The Pergamonmuseum is one of Berlin’s most visited historical gems and perhaps also its most controversial. This museum offers an archaeological time-warp…

  • BERLIN, GERMANY- October 15, 2014: Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed starting on 13 August 1961. East Side Gallery is an international memorial for freedom. October 15, 2014 in Berlin

    East Side Gallery

    2.21 MILES

    The East Side Gallery is the embodiment of Berlin’s grit and guts.

  • Berlin city Germanyu 1610343451

    Fernsehturm

    0.69 MILES

    Germany's tallest structure, the TV Tower is a Berlin icon.

  • Schloss & Park Sanssouci

    Schloss & Park Sanssouci

    17.24 MILES

    This glorious park and palace ensemble is what happens when a king has good taste, plenty of cash and access to the finest architects and artists of the…

  • Schloss Sanssouci

    Schloss Sanssouci

    16.94 MILES

    Frederick the Great's famous summer palace, this rococo gem was designed by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff in 1747 and sits daintily above vine-draped…

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Nearby Historic Mitte attractions

1. Reiterdenkmal Friedrich der Grosse

0.07 MILES

Seemingly surveying his domain, Frederick the Great cuts a commanding figure on horseback in this famous 1850 monument that kept sculptor Christian Daniel…

2. Neue Wache

0.09 MILES

This temple-like neoclassical structure (1818) was Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s first important Berlin commission. Originally a royal guardhouse and a…

3. Bebelplatz

0.11 MILES

The heart of a cultural centre envisioned by King Frederick the Great, austere Bebelplatz is infamous as the site of the first full-blown public book…

4. Deutsche Bank KunstHalle

0.11 MILES

In this small, elegant exhibition hall, Deutsche Bank presents changing high-calibre exhibits of contemporary art, especially from emerging art centres in…

5. Staatsoper Unter den Linden

0.11 MILES

Berlin’s opulent state opera was commissioned as the royal opera house by Frederick the Great and designed by his friend and master architect Georg…

6. Alte Bibliothek

0.12 MILES

Berlin's first library is a baroque beauty commissioned by Frederick the Great to shelter the royal book collection. Completed in 1780, its design mimics…

7. IM Pei Bau

0.13 MILES

High-calibre temporary exhibits, curated by the Deutsches Historisches Museum, occupy this spectacular contemporary annexe designed by Chinese-American…

8. Deutsches Historisches Museum

0.14 MILES

If you’re wondering what the Germans have been up to for the past 1500 years, take a spin around the baroque Zeughaus, formerly the Prussian arsenal and…