University of Königsberg

Coordinates: 54°42′50″N 20°30′36″E / 54.71389°N 20.51000°E / 54.71389; 20.51000
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University of Königsberg
Albertus-Universität Königsberg
Latin: Universitas Albertina
TypePublic
Active1544–1945
RectorGeorg Sabinus 1544–1547 (first)
Location
Königsberg
,
Prussia

54°42′50″N 20°30′36″E / 54.71389°N 20.51000°E / 54.71389; 20.51000
CampusUrban

The University of Königsberg (

Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Prussia
, and was commonly known as the Albertina.

Following World War II, the city of Königsberg was transferred to the Soviet Union according to the 1945 Potsdam Agreement, and renamed Kaliningrad in 1946. The Albertina was closed and the remaining non-Lithuanian population either executed or expelled, by the terms of the Potsdam Agreement. Today, the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University in Kaliningrad claims to maintain the traditions of the Albertina.

History

Elevation of the Albertinum and the northern half of the cathedral , c. 1810

Albert, former

Samland chapter, where he had an academic gymnasium (school)
erected in 1542. He issued the deed of foundation of the Collegium Albertinum on 20 July 1544, after which the university was inaugurated on 17 August.

Collegium Albertinum, c. 1850

The newly established Protestant duchy was a

privilege by King Sigismund II Augustus
of Poland on 28 March 1560.

From 1618 the Prussian duchy was ruled in

prorector
in charge of academic affairs.

Backside of the Collegium Albertinum in Kneiphof, where Kant taught. The quarter was destroyed in World War II.

The Prussian lands remained unharmed by the disastrous

Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich. The university and the city had profound impact on the development of Lithuanian culture. The first book in Lithuanian language was printed here in 1547 and several important Lithuanian writers attended the Albertina. The university was also the preferred educational institution of the Baltic German
nobility.

The 18th century is known in cultural history as the "Königsberg Century" of Enlightenment, a heyday initiated by the Albertina student Johann Christoph Gottsched and continued by the philosopher Johann Georg Hamann and writer Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel the Elder. Notable alumni were Johann Gottfried Herder, Zacharias Werner, Johann Friedrich Reichardt, E. T. A. Hoffmann, and foremost the philosopher Immanuel Kant, rector in 1786 and 1788. These scholars laid the foundations for the later Weimar Classicism and German Romanticism movements.

The Albertina's magnificent

Carl Gustav Jacobi (1829–42), the mineralogist Franz Ernst Neumann (1828–76) and the physicist Hermann von Helmholtz
(1849–55).

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the university was most famous for its school of

Carl Gottfried Neumann (both born in Königsberg and educated under Ludwig Otto Hesse) founded the Mathematische Annalen
in 1868, which soon became the most influential mathematical journal of the time.

The 300th anniversary of the University of Königsberg. Includes an interior view of the auditorium maximum, c. 1844
The Garden Arbor outside the University Building, c. 1890

Celebrating the university's 300 years jubilee on 31 August 1844, King

Philipp Melanchthon. Inside was a handsome staircase, borne by marble columns. The Senate Hall contained a portrait of Emperor Frederick III by Lauchert and a bust of Immanuel Kant by Hagemann, a student of Schadow
. The adjacent hall ("Aula") was adorned with frescoes painted in 1870. The
Palästra Albertina, established in 1898 for the encouragement of the higher forms of sport among the students and citizens. Nearby were the government offices, adorned with mural paintings by Knorr and Schmidt
. In 1900, the university had 900 students.

During the university's last years, the Albertina faculty and the

East Prussian Offensive of the Red Army and the final Battle of Königsberg. When General Otto Lasch signed the capitulation on April 9, the historic inner city was destroyed by the attacks, and 80% of the university campus lay in ruins. The faculty had fled, many of them were received at the University of Göttingen
.

The rebuilt main building of the Albertina is now part of the Immanuel Kant University. Its facade is very different from what it was in German times.

The remaining premises including the Albertina main building were used by the Kaliningrad State Pedagogical Institute from 1948, which in 1967 received the status of a Kaliningrad State University.

Notable alumni and faculty

Statue of Immanuel Kant, first exhibited by Christian Daniel Rauch in 1864. Removed in 1945, a replica was restored to the former Paradeplatz area in 1992.
Albert of Prussia on the book cover on one of the books of the famous Silberbibliothek ("silver library") which was part of the university library. Like the equally famous Wallenrodt library it is lost since 1945.

Honorary doctors

See also

References

  1. ^ The Peoples of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 2002, p.17
  2. ISBN 978-1-55753-443-9
    .
  3. ISBN 9781474256001
    .

External links
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