Göttingen

Göttingen (in French Gœttingue or Gottingue ) is a town of Germany, in the Land of Lower Saxony, capital of the district of the same name. It is located halfway between Bonn and Berlin. It counts 121 000 inhabitants (2001), including 24.000 students.

It is an important university center. The Université of Göttingen is one of most famous of Germany, with 32 000 students and 2 500 teachers. 42 Nobel Prize taught or studied in Göttingen. The city also shelters the Library of Lower Saxony, as well as the Max-Planck Institute and the Academy of Science. The university has two botanical gardens (Botanical garden of the university Georg August de Göttingen).

History

The first attested mention of the city (named “Gutingi” at the time) goes up with 953, on a charter between Othon I {{er}} and the monastery of Magdeburg. A municipal charter is attested towards 1210. At that time, the city is a prosperous commercial place, particularly after 1351, date of its entry in the Hanse. In 1387, the middle-class men are even enough powerful to destroy the ducal palate. In 1547, however, their fortune is reversed with the failure of the Ligue of Smalkade, to which Göttingen belonged - league joined together around Martin Luther by the Protestant princes against Charles Quint. The Guerre Thirty Year old completes to decrease the city. This one reappears in 1737 when the voter of Hanover, Georges II, founds the university there. In 1806 the city briefly passes under Prussian control, in 1807 it is integrated into the Kingdom of Westphalia before returning in the bosom of Hanover in 1813. In 1866 Göttingen and all the Kingdom of Hanover are attached to Prussia.

Monuments and traditions

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