The "Universitätshaus" or originally called "aula nova" was built in 1547 to replace the "Sapienz" which had burned down a few years earlier. In the original pointed-gabled half-timbered house, grain stocks were stored in the attic as part of the professors' salaries. As the central university building, it housed the archives, library and lecture halls. On the upper floors were the banquet hall and the meeting rooms where the Senate met, conferred academic degrees or imposed punishments on university citizens. On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the university in 1777, the building was rebuilt in the classicist style with a hipped roof, facade plaster and balcony. In 1822 the lecture halls were described as "unbelievably miserable, dark, cold", "everyone brought his little light in his pocket and stuck it on the table".
After lengthy renovations, the Old Auditorium and its Institute of Education became fully accessible again in 2012. A ceiling with original paintings from 1547 was uncovered, and a lecture and banquet hall was installed. The relocated 60,000 books of the educational science library also found their place back on four levels.
You can learn more about the history of the university and its significance on our themed tour "Tübingen University History(s)", which you can book with us.
