Erfurt's Old and New University

Erfurt stood in high repute as an intellectual center because of the university, which was founded by the citizens in 1392. It is the third new foundation in Germany after Heidelberg and Cologne. Prominent persons such as Ulrich von Hutten (poet laureate), Crotus Rubianus (Dunkelmännerbriefe - letters against scholastic philosophy), Eobanus Hessus (Dichterfürst - poet prince), studied and taught here, above all, Martin Luther, who studied here for four years before he became a monk in the Augustinian Monastery. Amplonius Ratingk de Berka was the second chancellor at the university. He made a present to the municipal council of his valuable manuscript collection. It is the "Amploniana" library, which is still highly rated. In its prime approximately one thousand students studied at the Erfurt university, which was one of the most popular universities on German soil. In 1816 the Prussians closed it, in 1945 it was razed to the ground and recently it was re-established.
remark of the webmaster: It was reopened in 1994 and its imposing centrepiece is the restored Collegium maius; a campus was built in the north of the city for academic lectures.

text and picture: Small Erfurt-Guide, folder by Hannelore Reichenbach
 

04.10.2005