Former university in Konigsberg, East Prussia (1544?1945)
The
University of Konigsberg
(
German
:
Albertus-Universitat Konigsberg
) was the
university
of
Konigsberg
in
East Prussia
. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second
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 Konigsberg 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
[
edit
]
Albert, former
Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights
and first
Duke of Prussia
since 1525, had purchased a piece of land behind
Konigsberg Cathedral
on the
Kneiphof
island of the
Pregel
River from the
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.
The newly established Protestant duchy was a
fiefdom
of the
Crown of the Kingdom of Poland
and the university served as a
Lutheran
counterpart to the
Catholic
Cracow Academy
. Its first
rector
was the poet
Georg Sabinus
, son-in-law of
Philipp Melanchthon
.
Lithuanian
scholars
Stanislovas Rapalionis
and
Abraomas Kulvietis
were among the first professors of university.
[1]
All professors had to take an oath on the
Augsburg Confession
. Since the Prussian lands lay beyond the borders of the
Holy Roman Empire
, both Emperor
Charles V
and
Pope Paul III
withheld their approval, nevertheless the Konigsberg academy received the royal
privilege
by King
Sigismund II Augustus
of Poland on 28 March 1560.
From 1618 the Prussian duchy was ruled in
personal union
by the
Margraves of Brandenburg
and in 1657 the "Great Elector"
Frederick William of Brandenburg
finally acquired full sovereignty over Prussia from Poland by the
Treaty of Wehlau
. The
Albertina
was the second oldest university (after the
University of Frankfurt (Oder)
) and intellectual centre of Protestant
Brandenburg-Prussia
. Initially it comprised four colleges:
Theology
,
Medicine
,
Philosophy
and
Law
, later also
natural sciences
. Subsequent rectors included numerous
Hohenzollern
Prussian royals (at last
Crown Prince William
1908?1918), who had never been to the university, usually represented by a
prorector
in charge of academic affairs.
The Prussian lands remained unharmed by the disastrous
Thirty Years' War
, which gained the Konigsberg university an increasing popularity among students. In the 17th century, it was known as a home to
Simon Dach
, serving as rector in 1656/57, and his fellow poets. Tsar
Peter I of Russia
visited the
Albertina
in 1697, leading to increased contacts between Prussia and the
Russian Empire
. Large numbers of Petrine officials trooped the university to cameralist theory and administrative practices which thus shaped Russia's government.
[2]
Notable Russian students at Konigbserg were
Kirill Razumovsky
, later president of the
Russian Academy of Sciences
and General
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 "Konigsberg 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
botanical garden
was inaugurated in 1811 during the
Napoleonic Wars
. Two years later,
Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel
established his outstanding
observatory
next door to the garden. Other university professors included such giants of the science world as the philosopher
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
(1806?07), the biologist
Karl Ernst von Baer
(1817?34), the mathematician
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
mathematics
, founded by
Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi
, and continued by his pupils
Ludwig Otto Hesse
,
Friedrich Richelot
,
Johann G. Rosenhain
and
Philipp Ludwig von Seidel
. It was later associated with the names of
Hermann Minkowski
(
Albert Einstein
's teacher),
Adolf Hurwitz
,
Ferdinand von Lindemann
and
David Hilbert
, who was one of the greatest modern mathematicians. The mathematicians
Alfred Clebsch
and
Carl Gottfried Neumann
(both born in Konigsberg and educated under Ludwig Otto Hesse) founded the
Mathematische Annalen
in 1868, which soon became the most influential mathematical journal of the time.
Celebrating the university's 300 years jubilee on 31 August 1844, King
Frederick William IV of Prussia
laid the foundation for the new main building of the
Albertina
, which was inaugurated in 1862 by Crown Prince
Frederick William
and Prorector
Johann Karl Friedrich Rosenkranz
. The building on central
Paradeplatz
was erected in a
neo-Renaissance style
according to plans designed by
Friedrich August Stuler
. The facade was adorned by an equestrian figure in relief of Albert of Prussia. Below it were niches containing statues of the Protestant reformers
Martin Luther
and
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
university library
was situated on
Mitteltragheim
in 1901 and contained over 230,000 volumes. On Dritte Fliess Strasse was the
Palastra 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
German Student Union
after the territorial separation of the
Province of East Prussia
by the
Treaty of Versailles
stressed its affiliation with the
Reich
, pushing intellectual life towards
German nationalism
. On 10 July 1944, the university celebrated its 400th anniversary in presence of Reich Minister
Walther Funk
. A few weeks later, during the nights of 26/27 and 29/30 August, Konigsberg was
extensively bombed
by the
Royal Air Force
. From January to April 1945 the city was further devastated by the
East Prussian Offensive
of the
Red Army
and the final
Battle of Konigsberg
. 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 Gottingen
.
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
[
edit
]
Honorary doctors
[
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]
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
The Peoples of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
, 2002, p.17
- ^
Charles Ingrao (2008). "The Early Modern Period". In Charles W. Ingrao, Franz A. J. Szabo (ed.).
The Germans and the East
. Purdue University Press. p. 61.
ISBN
978-1-55753-443-9
.
- ^
Naragon, Steve (2016).
"Salthenius, Daniel Lorenz (1701?50)"
. In Klemme, Heiner F.; Kuehn, Manfred (eds.).
The Bloomsbury dictionary of eighteenth-century German philosophers
. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 645?6.
ISBN
9781474256001
.
External links
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]
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