Humboldt University, Berlin: history and visit

Humboldt University, in Berlin

Humboldt University is the oldest and most prestigious university of Berlin, on the Unter den Linden avenue. The Berlin audio-guided tour stops here to evoke this high place of knowledge, which trained numerous Nobel laureates and great thinkers.

The cradle of the modern university

Humboldt University is the oldest university of Berlin, founded at the beginning of the nineteenth century on the Unter den Linden avenue. Designed according to the ideas of the scholar and reformer Wilhelm von Humboldt, who gave it his name, it revolutionised higher education by closely associating research and teaching, a model that inspired universities throughout the world. Located in an eighteenth-century palace, it counted among its professors and students very great names of science and thought, including numerous Nobel laureates, illustrious philosophers and physicists. A high place of knowledge, Humboldt University embodies the intellectual excellence of Berlin.

What to see

You admire the eighteenth-century palace that shelters the oldest university of Berlin, founded according to the ideas of Wilhelm von Humboldt, which trained great scholars, philosophers and Nobel laureates, on the Unter den Linden avenue. Humboldt University embodies the intellectual excellence of the town. It is a stop for those curious about history, to be explored on foot.

Practical information

Humboldt University lies on the Unter den Linden avenue, in the heart of Berlin, reachable on foot and by public transport. You mainly admire its façade from the avenue; it is a university institution whose access follows its own uses. You discover it during a walk on the avenue.

Why is Humboldt University important?

It is the oldest university of Berlin, founded in the nineteenth century according to the ideas of Wilhelm von Humboldt; it revolutionised higher education and trained great scholars, philosophers and Nobel laureates.