As a visitor in the city of Luther, it is hard to imagine nowadays how the city used to look like in the 16th century when the University was first created here. Most of the houses from what it is now the old city were used as accommodation for students from all over the German speaking area and even from abroad. On many houses, names of famous students are written on the front of the doors of what used to be their study homes. Among the famous visitors or students are Giordano Bruno, poet Martin Opitz or the first African student in Germany, Anton Wilhelm Arno, Schiller, Lessing and Goethe.
Compared to other university cities, the majority of studies here were dedicated to religious topics and hence, probably the streets were less lively then in Heidelberg, for instance.
Shortly after the creation, the university turned into an important center of protestant reformation. In 1512, Luther himself took his PhD in theology and continued to be part of the university as teacher of Bible studies. In 1580, Augusteum was built, one of Germany's oldest university buildings.
Nowadays, the university from Wittenberg bears the name of Luther and is part of a consortium together with the University of Halle. The University from Halle is much younger, being created in 1694. The current structure is functioning since the 1930s.
The Leucorea center in Wittenberg hosts seminars and various conferences on topics regarding theology or social sciences. This center was created in 1842/43, during the time when the university was closed during the Napoleonic Wars and currently hosts the foundation dedicated to academic studies.
Wittenberg is no more the very active university center that used to be, but it keeps the prestige of academic excellence and the memory of prestigious personalities that studied and taught here.
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