Goettingen is a university town rich in tradition, known throughout Germany for its turbulent history and its well-preserved half-timbered buildings dating from the Middle Ages. A settlement by the name of “Gutingi” in this area had been accounted for from the seventh century. In 1230, Goettingen received town privilege, and it achieved the status of a large city in 1964. Many well-known persons are, in one way or another, connected to Goettingen. For example, Otto von Bismarck, who later became the German Chancellor, studied law here. The famous mathematician, physicist, and astronomer Carl Friedrich Gauss lived in Goettingen, as did the physicist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. The author Heinrich Heine also studied here for a time; however, he met the city with mixed feelings. He wrote the following in his “The Harz Journey” from 1826: “The city of Goettingen, famous for its sausages and university, belongs to the King of Hanover and contains 999 hearths, diverse churches, a maternity hospital, an observatory, a prison, a library, and one rathskeller where the beer is very good. … The city itself is lovely and is most preferable to one when looking at it with one’s back….” Although this passage from Heine exhibits that he was not among the greatest admirers of Goettingen, it, nevertheless, indicates several of the many interesting sights which still exist in the city today. Visitors to the city, particularly interested in history and culture, get their money’s worth during a visit to this university town located in the southern portion of Lower Saxony. There is much to see and much to tell. This tour leads you to the most beautiful and most interesting sights of the university town of Goettingen. The focal point of the tour is the neighborhood of the old city within the old city wall, and the tour is intended for local individuals, who would like to learn more about the buildings and monuments which they pass by daily, as well as for new visitors to the city who would like to gain an entertaining and informative impression of Goettingen. Regardless of how much time you take or if you would like to stop off somewhere in between, the tour can easily be completed in one da

Photo Goettingen Marktplatz Oct06 Antilived by Daniel Schwen is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0