Tübingen

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Tübingen

Tübingen, a traditional university town of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, is situated 20 miles (60 kilometres) southwest of Stuttgart, on a ridge between the rivers Neckar and Ammer.

Famous city centre

A third river called "Steinlach" flows into the Neckar near the city centre thus making it a kind of peninsula. The river Neckar itself then parts into two courses, forming the elongated "Neckarinsel" ("Neckar Island"), famous for its "Platanenallee" ("Platan Avenue") with high plane trees some of which more than 200 years old. After about 1500 meters the two courses combine again. 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 "Neckarfront" (see photograph) including the house with adjoining tower where poet Friedrich Hölderlin stayed for more than 30 years fighting with mental derangement.

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 "Catholic" features, such as patron saints. Tübingen's Altstadt survived the Second World War due to the city's lack of heavy industry. The result is one of the few remaining authentic Altstädte in Germany and growing a domestic tourism business. Other landmarks include the Rathaus (City Hall) on the Marktplatz (Market Square) and Schloß Hohentübingen, now a part of the University of Tübingen.

Although it is largely impossible to determine the difference 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").

Below the Rathaus is a quiet, residental street called Judengasse, the former Jewish neighborhood of Tübingen. On the street corner a plaque remarks on the fate of Tübingen's Jews. Many were forced out under accusations of causing the Black Death and most were driven out or murdered by the Nazis. Disturbingly, they were also evicted from the city by Eberhard the Bearded at the opening of the University. No reason for this is given.

Function of the city

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.

1995, the German weekly, "Focus" published a national survey according to which Tübingen had the highest quality of life of all cities in Germany.

University of Tübingen

The Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen dates from 1477, making it one of the oldest in Germany. 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.

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. Tübingen is also the hometown of the athlete Dieter Baumann, winner of 5000 m at the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Location

Image:Karte tuebingen in deutschland.png|Location of Tübingen in Germany Image:Neckar river watershed.png|Tübingen and the other cities of the Neckar River watershed Image:Rhine river 3.PNG|Watershed of the Rhine River

Districts

Historical population

Year	Population
1871	16,176
1880	19,378
1890	20,913
1900	23,425
1910	28,499
1925	29,971
1933	34,112
1939	35,963
1950	44,221
1956	51,454
1961	58,768
1962	61,068
1963	61,484
1964	62,454
1965	63,450

Year	Population
1966	64,886
1967	65,846
1968	67,054
1969	67,947
1970	66,788
1971	68,231
1972	69,650
1973	70,993
1974	71,175
1975	71,348
1976	71,558
1977	71,820
1978	71,193
1979	72,167
1980	73,132

Year	Population
1981	74,500
1982	74,766
1983	75,013
1984	75,333
1985	75,825
1986	76,122
1987¹	71,701
1987	72,936
1988	76,046
1989	78,643
2001	82,444
2002	82,885
2003	83,137

¹ census result

Twinnings

Ann Arbor, Michigan, is Tübingen's sister city in the United States of America. Other cities twinned with Tübingen are Aix-en-Provence (France), Monthey (Switzerland), Durham (United Kingdom), Aigle (Switzerland), Perugia (Umbria, Italy), and Petrozavodsk (Karelia, Russia).

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)

Towns in Baden-Württemberg | University towns

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