Old University (Heidelberg)

Old Heidelberg University in winter

The Old University, West Wing

Chair in the auditorium of the Old University

Auditorium in neo-renaissance style, view of the podium, the catheter and the western gallery

The old university is an important baroque building in the old town of Heidelberg and the genius loci of the Ruprecht-Karls-University .

history

The old university was built in a 23-year construction period from 1712 to 1735 according to the construction plans of the baroque architect Johann Adam Breunig . The building replaced a college building of the university that was located at this point. The construction project was part of the reconstruction of the city ​​of Heidelberg, which was badly damaged in the War of the Palatinate Succession (1688–1697). The building - Domus Wilhelmiana - was named after its founder, the Elector Elector Johann Wilhelm . On the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Heidelberg University in 1886, the old auditorium in the west wing of the building was redesigned in the neo-Renaissance style. The name Alte Universität , which is now common today , came about at the beginning of the 1930s as a result of the construction of the New University lecture hall building on the opposite side of Universitätsplatz.

use

Old auditorium, view from the catheter to the entrance area and the gallery

The auditorium of the Old University is used today for special events such as concerts, readings, lectures and celebrations on the occasion of the award of cultural prizes.

The old university also houses the rectorate of the university and the university museum, which was established in 1996. The museum documents the history of the development of the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität.

Attached to the Old University, in a baroque building with the entrance in Augustinergasse, is the Heidelberg student prison . Students who had to be disciplined in the past were stipulated here.

The lion fountain in front of the west facade of the Old University served Heidelberg citizens for centuries as one of the city's most important sources of drinking water.

literature

• Heike Hawicks, Ingo Runde (ed.): The old auditorium of the University of Heidelberg. Heidelberg University Publishing, Heidelberg 2016. doi : 10.17885 / heiup.122.149
• Sabine Juschka: The Old University. Grabengasse 1 , in: Semper Apertus, Volume V: The buildings of Heidelberg University. Text volume, ed. by Peter Anselm Riedl, Berlin / Heidelberg a. a. 1987, pp. 48-78.
• Rudolf Schuler, Richard Henk: Heidelberg . ISBN 3-921524-46-6 .

Web links

Commons : Old University  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Information from the City of Heidelberg about the Old University
• Information from Heidelberg University about the Old University

Coordinates: 49 ° 24 ′ 40 ″  N , 8 ° 42 ′ 22 ″  E