Tübingen
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- The title of this article contains the character ü. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Tuebingen.
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| Country | Germany |
| State | Baden-Württemberg |
| Administrative region | Tübingen |
| District | Tübingen |
| Population | 87,954 (2006) |
| Area | 108.12 km² |
| Population density | 771 /km² |
| Elevation | 338 m |
| Coordinates | 48°31′ N 9°3′ E |
| Postal code | 72001–72099 |
| Area code | 07071 |
| Licence plate code | TÜ |
| Mayor | Boris Palmer (Green) |
| Website | tuebingen.de |
Tübingen, a traditional university town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, is situated 20 miles (30 kilometres) southwest of Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.
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[edit] Downtown Tübingen
A third river, the Steinlach, flows into the Neckar near the city centre, making it a kind of peninsula. The Neckar river itself then divides briefly into two streams, forming the elongated 1500 meter-long "Neckarinsel" ("Neckar Island"), famous for its "Platanenallee" ("Platan Avenue") with high plane trees, some of which are more than 200 years old. Pedestrians can only reach the island on the narrow ends via stairs leading down from two bridges spanning the Neckar. During the summer, the Neckarinsel is the venue for many concerts, plays and literary readings. The row of historical houses across one side of the elongated Neckarinsel is called the "Neckarfront" (see photograph) and includes the house with adjoining tower where poet Friedrich Hölderlin stayed for the last 36 years of his life as he struggled with mental instability. The Neckar is also the venue in summer for students and tourists to enjoy beer and freshly-baked pretzels in restaurant beer-gardens or pole slowly down the river in a Stocherkahn (a punt).
Tübingen's Altstadt survived the Second World War due to the city's lack of heavy industry. The result is a growing domestic tourism business as visitors come to wander through one of the few remaining authentic Altstädte in Germany, uniquely charming due to the combination of its crooked cobblestone laneways, the stairs built into sidewalks to negotiate the hilly nature of the terrain, the canals that line some of its streets, and the maintenance of the traditional appearance of many of its buildings.
Landmarks include the Rathaus (City Hall) on the Marktplatz (Market Square) and Schloß Hohentübingen, now a part of the University of Tübingen. The central landmark of Tübingen's Altstadt is the Stiftskirche (Collegiate Church). It, along with the rest of the city, was one of the early converts to Luther's protestant church. As such, it maintains (and carefully defends) several "Roman Catholic" features, such as patron saints. The centre of Tübingen is the site of countless weekly and seasonal events, including regular market-days in the Holzmarkt and Am Markt marketplaces by the Stiftskirche and the Rathaus respectively, outdoor film showings in winter and summer, special festive autumn and Christmas markets, and Europe's largest Afro-Brazilian festival.
Below the Rathaus is a quiet, residential street called the Judengasse, the former Jewish neighborhood of Tübingen until the banishment of Tübingen's Jews in 1477. On the street corner is a plaque that remarks on the fate of Tübingen's Jews.
A 5-minute walk from the centre of town brings a visitor to at least two other districts of interest; uphill, many of Tübingen's stately fraternity houses overlook the town, and one of Eberhard Karls Universität's main campuses can be found along the Friedrichsstrasse. Travelers may well appreciate the campus libraries, the affordable meals at the Mensa - the main cafeteria - and the frequent concerts, exhibits, lectures and presentations by visiting and residing academics. (This campus hosts primarily the humanities and professional faculties; the central science facilities are located on the Morgenstelle hill, a short bus ride away).
Tübingen is a vibrant town in terms of culture and nightlife. In addition to the full roster of official and unofficial university events that range from Poetik-Dozenturen - presentations by the university's official poet in residence - to parties hosted by the student associations of each faculty, the town can boast of several choirs, theatre companies and nightclubs - something for every taste.
Also, Tübingen's Kunsthalle, on the "Wanne", houses two or three exhibits of international note each year.
A brief local trip can also be made from town to the Cistercian monastery at Schloss Bebenhausen.
[edit] City History
Tübingen itself dates from the 6th or 7th century, officially first appearing in records in 1191. By 1231, the city was a 'civitas' indicating recognition of civil liberties and a court system. Its name ends with the familiar 'ingen', indicating it was originally settled by the Alemanic tribes. In 1342 Tübingen was purchased by count Ulrich III and incorporated into the County of Württemberg.
Although it is largely impossible to notice such things today, as recently as the 1950s Tübingen was a very socio-economically divided city, with poor local farmers and tradesman living along the Stadtgraben (City Canal) and students and academics residing around the Alte Aula and the Burse, the old University buildings. There, hanging on the Cottahaus a sign advertises Goethe's stay of a few weeks while visiting his publisher. The German tendency to memorialize every minor presence of its historical greats (comparable to the statement "Washington slept here" in the United States) is parodied on the building next door. This simple building, once a dormitory, features a plain sign with the words "Hier kotzte Goethe" (lit.:"Goethe puked here").
[edit] The City's Roles
Tübingen functions as the seat of the Administrative District of Tübingen, as well as of the county of Tübingen.
In 2002 the city had 82,885 inhabitants, including circa 22,000 students. Tübingen is best described as a mixture of an old and distinguished academic flair including liberal politics and German-style fraternities, with rural, agricultural and typical Swabian elements. The city contains many picturesque buildings from previous centuries, and lies on the river Neckar.
In 1995, the German weekly, "Focus", published a national survey according to which Tübingen had the highest quality of life of all cities in Germany. Factors that are likely to influence that result, commented upon by residents, include infrastructure such as the integration of bicycle lanes into the fabric of its road system and a bus system that connects hills and valleys and runs late-night service, the 'walkability' of the town and its pedestrian-only historic core, as well as the services and cultural events offered by the university. As life in the city is dominated by the many students, Tübingen is the city with the youngest population on average in all of Germany.
[edit] Higher Education in Tübingen
The Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen dates from 1477, making it one of the oldest in Germany. The city is also host to several research institutes including the Max Planck Institute for Biology, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, The Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the MPG, and the Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research.
[edit] Gallery
 Houses in the snow |
 Hölderlinturm |
 Reflection of the sun in the Neckar |
 Reflection of houses in the Neckar |
 Fountain in front of the Rathaus |
 Fountain in front of St-Georg Stift |
 St-Georg Stift in snow |
 Sunset from the castle |
 Swans on the Neckar in winter |
 St-Georg Stift in winter |
 Carving at entry to Schloß |
 Statues |
 St. George being broken on the wheel, St. Georg Stift |
[edit] Schools
More than 10,000 children and youth in Tübingen regularly attend school. In total there are 30 school institutions in the town, some of which consist of more than one school. Of these, 17 are Elementary schools, 4 are Hauptschule, 3 are Realschule, 6 are Gymnasiums, 4 Colleges/"Technical Schools", and 3 are special schools.
Elementary Schools
Freie Aktive Schule Tübingen
Grundschule Innenstadt / Silcherschule
Grundschule Weilheim
Ludwig-Krapf-Schule
Grundschule Hügelstr.
Grundschule Französische Schule
Dorfackerschule Lustnau
Grundschule Hirschau
Grundschule Hechinger Eck
Grundschule auf der Wanne
Grundschule Aischbach
Grundschule Winkelwiese/WHO
Grundschule Bühl
Grundschule Kilchberg
Grundschule Hagelloch
Grundschule Pfrondorf
Grundschule Unterjesingen
Hauptschulen
Dorfackerschule Lustnau
Mörike-Schule
Geschwister-Scholl-Schule
Hauptschule Innenstadt
Realschulen
Walter-Erbe-Realschule
Albert-Schweitzer-Realschule
Geschwister-Scholl-Schule
Gymnasien
Carlo-Schmid-Gymnasium
Geschwister-Scholl-Schule
Kepler Gymnasium
Uhland Gymnasium
Wildermuth-Gymnasium
Freie Waldorfschule
Colleges/Career Schools
Gewerbliche Schule
Wilhelm-Schickard-Schule
Mathilde-Weber-Schule
Bildungs- und Technologiezentrum
[edit] Famous Residents Past and Present
Famous Tübingen residents include the poet Friedrich Hölderlin, Alois Alzheimer from whom Alzheimer's disease takes its name, Friedrich Miescher who was the first to discover DNA, and Wilhelm Schickard who developed the first mechanical computer, was born in nearby Herrenberg. Hegel and Johannes Kepler studied in Tübingen, and Joseph Alois Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) held a chair in dogmatic theology at the University. Hermann Hesse worked in Tübingen as a bookseller trainee from 1895 to 1899. Tübingen also is the home of scholars of international renown such as the philosopher Ernst Bloch, the theologian Hans Küng, famous author Walter Jens, as well as Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, a Nobel laureate for medicine. Slovenian refugee protestant preacher Primoz Trubar published first two books in Slovenian language (Catechismus and Abecedarium] in Tübingen in 1550. Tübingen is also the hometown of former track and field star Dieter Baumann, winner of 5000 m at the 1992 Summer Olympics.
[edit] Location
 Location of Tübingen in Germany |
 Tübingen and the other cities of the Neckar River watershed |
 Watershed of the Rhine River |
[edit] Districts
- Bebenhausen
- Bühl
- Derendingen
- Französisches Viertel
- Hagelloch
- Hirschau
- Kilchberg
- Kreßbach
- Lustnau
- Nordstadt
- Pfrondorf
- Südstadt
- Unterjesingen
- Weilheim
- Weststadt
- Wanne
[edit] Historical population
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¹ census result
[edit] Sister cities
Tübingen is twinned with:
Aix-en-Provence, France
Perugia, Italy
Villa El Salvador, Peru
Petrozavodsk, Russia
Monthey, Switzerland- Aigle, Switzerland
- Kilchberg, Switzerland
Durham, United Kingdom
Ann Arbor, USA
[edit] External links
- City's official website (German)
- City's official website (English)
- Eberhard Karls University (English and German)
- Tourism information (German)
- Tübingen page of German National Tourist Board (English)
- Tuebingen Insider Tipps (German)
- Tuebingen, city of culture (English)
- TÜzilla Tübingen Open Directory Project entry page (German)
- War and Holocaust memorials in and around Tuebingen at the Sites of Memory webpage
- City Memorial Projects (Jewish and post-war history) website - German only
Ammerbuch | Bodelshausen | Dettenhausen | Dußlingen | Gomaringen | Hirrlingen | Kirchentellinsfurt | Kusterdingen | Mössingen | Nehren | Neustetten | Ofterdingen | Rottenburg am Neckar | Starzach | Tübingen |
