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Göttingen is a large city in the south of Lower Saxony and is
located on the Leine. Göttingen is mainly known as a university town
(after Heinrich Heine for its sausages before university). Guests
get to know the young and lively city (there are around 27,000
students for a good 116,000 inhabitants) best by strolling through
the largely preserved old town with its numerous half-timbered
houses. A visit to the Gänseliesel, a walk over the almost
completely preserved ramparts or a visit to one of the numerous
research facilities are further attractions.
Science and economy
Göttingen, the southernmost city in Lower Saxony, is known worldwide especially for its old, traditional Georg August University. Georgia Augusta is the largest and - opened in 1737 - also the oldest still existing university in Lower Saxony. In addition to the university, some Max Planck Institutes and other important scientific institutions are also based in Göttingen. Due to the large number of Nobel Prize winners who studied, taught or researched in Göttingen, the city is also known as the city that creates knowledge.
A good fifth of the inhabitants of Göttingen are students at the university or one of the colleges, which is reflected, among other things, in a high number of cyclists and a distinctive, colorfully mixed pub and club scene. But the cultural offerings are also shaped by science, from numerous specialist lectures by the various faculties, series of lectures for laypeople to an independent student theater stage. Anyone who wants to experience science and student life live as a traveler has various options almost every day.
Over the centuries, the science location has had a beneficial effect on the settlement of supplying and supporting industries and crafts. The positive mutual influence between scientific knowledge and practical knowledge and competencies promoted in particular the area of measurement technology, which is represented today by Measurement Valley, an association of local companies and universities. Companies such as Sartorius and Mahr, both globally active companies in the field of measurement technology, have their headquarters in Göttingen. Other economic priorities include the optical industry, aluminum processing and shipping companies and automotive suppliers.
The "Gutingi" settlement was first mentioned in a certificate from Emperor Otto I in 953. The history of the place can be retraced even further on the basis of archaeological settlement finds that go back to the 7th century. The first settlement area Gutingis was in the area of today's Albanikirche, whose origins go back to the 11th century. Another historically significant place from the early days of Göttingen was the Palatinate Grona, an imperial palace of Heinrich II. (973-1024) on the western steep slope of the Leinetal, from which the village of Grone, today a district of Göttingen, emerged.
From the 13th century, the city fortifications were built around today's old town, the course of which at that time can be easily discovered on a walk over the almost complete city wall. A small remnant of the city wall and a tower of the city fortifications are still preserved in Turmstrasse. The first delimited city center included the market, the churches St. Johannis, St. Jacobi and St. Nicolai and the town hall on the market. In the period that followed, two monasteries were built: a Franciscan monastery on today's Wilhelmsplatz (the adjacent Barfüßer-Strasse was named after the Franciscans were named Barfüßer), and a Dominican monastery, from which the Paulinerkirche (today part of the Lower Saxony State and University Library Göttingen) is still preserved.
For many centuries (with only a short interruption) Göttingen was owned by various lines of the Welfenhaus, most recently the Kingdom of Hanover. The University of Georgia Augusta was founded at this time by the Guelph King George II August, who was also King of England. The self-confident bourgeoisie, like the professors, was not always friendly towards the Welfenhaus, so a protest by 7 Göttingen professors (the Göttingen Seven) against a reactionary constitution caused a sensation. In 1866 Göttingen became Prussian and allowed itself a Bismarck cult that stood out even for the time - Bismarck Tower, Bismarckstein, Bismarckhäuschen on the Wall (and for a time the student booth of the later Chancellor).
In the second half of the 19th century, Göttingen grew beyond the
now functionless Wall. The university expanded to the north,
residential areas arose to the east and south, only to the west did
the railway line and the lowland stoppage. Unusually for cities in
the west wind zone, the upscale residential areas were built in the
main wind direction in the east of the city up the Hainberg, a clear
indication that there wasn't much industry and smoking chimneys at
During the First World War, the people of Göttingen did not escape the enthusiasm for war that was widespread in Germany. The effects of the war and the subsequent upheavals on the city were minor. The university developed into one of the world's leading centers for natural sciences. This development came to an abrupt end in 1933 when the National Socialists (also elected by a majority in Göttingen) removed Jewish professors and students from the university; many went into exile. Book burnings in 1933, anti-Jewish pogrom dealings on November 10, 1938 (among other things, the synagogue burned down), the co-ordination of the student body were black moments in the city's history.
The direct consequences of the war were relatively minor, air strikes mainly hit the railway tracks in the west of the city and individual buildings in the city area. The old town got off relatively lightly. There were a total of 120 deaths from acts of war in the city. In April 1945 American troops liberated the city without a fight.
After 1945 Göttingen became part of the British zone of occupation and found itself in a peripheral location near the border. While the border to the American zone of occupation quickly lost its importance to the south, parts of the Göttingen hinterland in the Osteichsfeld fell into the Soviet zone of occupation behind the Iron Curtain. In the 1950s the population of Göttingen grew rapidly, in the hardly destroyed city the housing shortage was less pressing than elsewhere; The proximity to the Friedland transit camp also played a part in this. The economy benefited from the happy mixture of zone border funding and the good infrastructure connection through the north-south motorway (A 7) and railway line, which was expanded into a high-speed route in the early 1980s. Businesses mainly settled in the then still independent communities around Göttingen, especially in Grone in the west and Weende in the north.
In the 1960s, the urban area grew through numerous incorporations. In the old town, historic buildings such as the university riding stables, but also numerous residential buildings, fell victim to large-scale renovation work. It was not until the 1980s that there was a rethink and old buildings were more carefully renovated or, where necessary, gutted objects such as the long-standing empty locomotive hall were renovated and revitalized as an event center. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 put an end to the outskirts of Göttingen, and the city became a regional center that extends far into Thuringia. Large-scale retail trade on the outskirts of the city emerged, especially at the motorway exit and Kasseler Landstrasse. In the city center, skyrocketing shop rents led to the displacement of many established retailers by retail chains and, overall, to an impoverishment of diversity in the main shopping streets.
Political-historical events in the post-war years were the Göttingen Declaration, in which 18 nuclear and nuclear researchers protested in 1957 against the nuclear armament of the Bundeswehr, the student riots in 1968 (which were also directed against the destruction of old buildings in the city in favor of a redesign of the cityscape) , and violent protests by the Autonomous Antifa and the Black Bloc that flared up again and again, which called for so-called broken demos until the 1990s and in some cases resulted in the entire inner city being barricaded.
Göttingen received its current size through the incorporation of several surrounding villages that surrounded the former Gutinigi, today's inner city. In the city center you will find the pedestrian zone with the side streets, often preserved half-timbered architecture, surrounded by the ramparts.
The expanded core city consists of the districts
Weststadt, the area between the former village of Grone and the railway line or the Leine. The Saline Luisenhall is located at the transition from Weststadt to Grone. In the Weststadt you will find larger industrial and commercial centers as well as the green belt on the Leine. The Leineradweg leads along the edge of Weststadt.
Südstadt, south of the city center, beginning with the dominant
building of the New Town Hall and separated from Geismar further
south by a belt of allotments. In the southern part of the city
there are mainly residential areas, but also some university
institutes (physics, mathematics) and the Göttingen branch of the
German Aerospace Society. Travelers with mobile homes will find the
mobile home parking space on the Leine Canal, which flows through
the southern part of the city.
Oststadt, which consists of the old Ostviertel called Professorenviertel and the adjacent residential areas, which extend up the slope of the Göttingen Forest. A walk through the old villa district, in which you will not only find some of the university's institutes (e.g. the educational seminar on Baurat-Gerber-Straße) and the Max Planck Institute for research into multi-religious and multi-ethnic societies, reveals some lavishly decorated city villas, secluded ones Gardens and the occasional creativity of contemporary developers when it comes to exhausting the land development. The Schillerwiese, the most famous park in the city, is located in the middle of the east quarter.
Nordstadt, then on the Wall, it encompasses the entire area of the university's central campus, then further north the residential areas between the former main road and the clinic, often dormitories and apartment buildings for students. Worth seeing here, among other things, is the large complex of the old clinic, which is used today by various seminars and institutes of the university and is adjacent to the much newer complex of the central campus.
Some of the incorporated villages merge almost seamlessly into the urban area:
Grone in the west consists of the center of the old village Grone and the large settlement area Grone Süd. The B3, the Kasseler Landstrasse, divides these two parts. There are also some hotels on this that are particularly suitable if you come spontaneously from the A7 and are only looking for an overnight stay.
Turn in the north. In the east of Weende, a large new area of the university has emerged over the past 20 years, the so-called north campus. The Weende Nord settlement continues to expand northwards and soon touches the southernmost, steadily growing settlements of Bovenden, which is no longer part of the urban area.
Geismar with the Treuenhagen settlement in the south of the city, and the extensive residential areas that stretch up the slope to the Göttingen city forest above the old village. The newest residential area in Geismar, the Zietenterrassen at the top of the mountain, was built on the site of the former Zietenkaserne of the Bundeswehr after it was closed in 1994. The old barracks from 1936 were preserved and lavishly converted into upscale apartments, and a large new building area was created all around. Geismar forms the southern city limits of Göttingen.
The following villages are still independent from the location, but belong to the urban area:
Groß Ellershausen, directly to the west of the motorway, from which you can already see the large complex of the Göttinger Tageblatt and adjacent, ideal for an overnight stay in transit, the Hotel Freizeit In. Behind it lies the old town center and new housing estates. Groß Ellershausen is circled in a large curve by the route of the former Hanover Southern Railway, on which the Weser-Harz-Heide cycle path runs today. Groß Ellershausen forms a village together with Hetjershausen and Knutbühren.
Hetjershausen is the westernmost district of Göttingen and is elevated above the Leine valley on the slope of the Leinebergland. The formerly agricultural village has grown due to several new housing estates and is primarily a place of residence for commuters to Göttingen.
Knutbühren is the smallest district of Göttingen after Deppoldshausen, and with its half-timbered houses on only three streets has retained its village character to this day. The village is elevated above Hetjershausen in the Leinebergland.
Esebeck is located in the northwesternmost corner of the Göttingen urban area. The village, in which some farms have survived, forms a village together with Elliehausen.
Elliehausen is also west of the autobahn, but is close to the autobahn. Although Elliehausen also has an old village center, it has grown rapidly in the last two decades due to large new development areas.
Holtensen is separated from Weende and the rest of the city by the Leine and the motorway slip road, and since the motorway was expanded to six lanes, it can only be reached from the south or east. The town center has partly Retains its village character, newer residential areas are mainly on the Holtenser Berg belonging to Holtensen.
Deppoldshausen is the smallest and most remote district of
Göttingen. The small settlement goes back to an earlier Vorwerk of
the Lords of Plesse, later it then became the property of the Weende
Monastery. Located high up in the Göttingen Forest above the
Norduni, only one road leads to Deppoldshausen, which together with
Weende forms a village.
Nikolausberg is a good 200 m higher than the city center of Göttingen above Weende and the Norduni. The formerly only very small mountain village today consists mainly of settlements from the post-war period with high-quality buildings. The monastery church, remnants of an Augustinian monastery from around the 12th century, and the Rieswarte, also known as the Nikolausberger Warte, which was built around 1440 and whose crew was responsible for monitoring the road to Katlenburg, are of tourist interest. Two important institutes are based on the Fassberg, which belongs to Nikolausberg: the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization.
Roringen is also elevated above Göttingen, but a few kilometers east of the Orstkern on the B27, which cuts through the place. The old town center lies on the slope of the Bratental, on the other side of which you can see Nikolausberg. The Bratental nature reserve connects both places. The Roringer observation point just outside the village was one of the historical observation points of the Göttingen city fortifications.
Herberhausen is located in a basin that the Lutter forms in the Göttingen Forest surrounding the village. In Herberhausen, the classic village image is still clearly preserved, even if here, as in almost all parts of the city, the new building areas that stretch up the slopes in Herberhausen cannot be overlooked. Herberhausen can be reached via a cul-de-sac that branches off from the B27 leading towards Harz at the bone mill. In the disused quarry in Herberhausen you can find the typical ripple marks of a prehistoric seabed.