# Old University

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Canonical page: https://mytuur.com/en/city/marburg/spot/old-university/

Content updated: 2026-07-14

Alte Universität rises in Marburg’s historic upper town, reached by a discreet stone staircase. Monastery, university and church meet within this architectural complex. Its oldest foundations belong to a Dominican monastery established in 1291. In 1527, Landgrave Philip the Magnanimous founded the world’s first Protestant university here.

Between 1873 and 1891, architect Carl Schäfer reshaped the buildings in a Gothic Revival style. Medieval forms from the upper town help the complex blend with its surroundings. The Alte Aula opened in 1903, with oak panelling, carved seating and subdued grisaille windows. Seven large paintings by Peter Janssen present scenes from Hessian and university history.

The neighbouring Gothic university church once served as a grain store before returning to religious use in 1658. A student detention cell preserves nineteenth-century inscriptions and drawings across its walls. Today, the buildings house Protestant theology, while bronze chairs and books recall the Grimm brothers outside. A glowing Sterntaler artwork and a memorial to fifteen murdered prisoners place artistic splendour beside difficult remembrance.

- City: [Marburg](https://mytuur.com/en/city/marburg/)

## Photos

- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_Alte_Universitt_6a55ea35f4e35fd6653054cd_0.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alte_Universität_Marburg_Teilaspekt.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_Alte_Universitt_6a55ea35f4e35fd6653054cd_1.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alte_Universität_Marburg.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_Alte_Universitt_6a55ea35f4e35fd6653054cd_2.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alte_Universitaet_Marburg.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_Alte_Universitt_6a55ea35f4e35fd6653054cd_3.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alte_Universität_Marburg_\(cropped\).jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_Alte_Universitt_6a55ea35f4e35fd6653054cd_4.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marburg_Alte_Universität_06.jpg)

Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Marburg. 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?

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