Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin is a public research university in Berlin, Germany, beside the historic Unter den Linden boulevard. The site centres on the Prinz-Heinrich-Palais in Berlin. Built for Prince Henry of Prussia, the palace presents Baroque architecture along the boulevard.

Founded in 1809 under Frederick William III, it opened as the University of Berlin in 1810. Wilhelm von Humboldt, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, and Friedrich Schleiermacher shaped its founding vision. Its model joined research with teaching, an approach that influenced universities across Europe and the Western world. Faculty members such as Albert Einstein contributed to its reputation in the natural sciences. During the Cold War, the university stood in East Berlin as Berlin’s academic landscape divided.

Wartime damage marked the palace, while reconstruction in the mid-twentieth century restored the university building. Johann Boumann designed it between 1748 and 1753 for Prince Henry of Prussia. In 1967, statues from the destroyed Potsdam City Palace joined its side wings.

City: Berlin
Content updated: 2026-06-22

Image: A.Savin CC BY-SA 3.0
Image: Franz Schmelhaus, ZürichPublic domain
Image: Nobel foundationPublic domain
Image: Photograph by Orren Jack Turner, Princeton, N.J., Modified with Photoshop by PM_Poon and later by Dantadd.Public domain

Take this page with you

The myTuur app is free, and once you are standing at a spot its story starts by itself.

Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Berlin. In the app, each story begins where you stand: walk up to a spot and it starts, read it on screen or listen as you go, then follow the route to the next one.

What is myTuur?

myTuur is a free city-guide app. Its tours are built from spots, and each spot carries a story that starts when you get there, to read or to listen to as you like.