Tubingen Tourist Attractions

Tübingen's picturesque Old Town contains a number of attractions, including Karl Eberhard University.

In the Holzmarkt in Tübingen is the Late Gothic Stiftskirche (15th C.; Protestant), with handsome monuments commemorating members of the princely house of Württemberg, including Count Eberhard the Bearded and Duke Ludwig. The choir has 15th C. stained glass.

Beyond the church in Tübingen are the oldest parts of the Karl Eberhard University - the Alte Aula (Old Assembly Hall), the former Karzer (students' prison; open to visitors) and the fine Bursa, in which the Reformer Philip Melanchthon lectured in 1514-18.

On the banks of the Neckar stands the Hölderlin Tower (open to the public), in which the poet Friedrich Hölderlin lived from 1807 until his death in 1843.

At the end of Bursagasse in Tübingen is the Stift (founded 1536), a Protestant theological seminary whose pupils included Kepler, Schelling, Hegel, Hölderlin, Mörike and Hauff. Higher up, at Neckarhalde 24, is the birthplace of the poet Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862). At No. 31, in the Theodor-Haering-Haus, is the Municipal Museum (new museum under construction).

In the nearby Tübingen Markt stands the picturesque Town Hall (Rathaus), a half-timbered building of 1435. In front of it is the Market Fountain (1617).

In Tübingen there are just traces of the towns ancient fortifications. The Hölderlin Tower is one example, named after the poet who lived in the town.

From Tübingen's Markt the Burgsteige runs steeply up, affording extensive views, to the 16th C. Schloss Hohentübingen, built on the remains of an earlier castle of the Counts Palatine, with a handsome Renaissance doorway. There are frequent concerts in the castle courtyard. The Schloss now houses the collections of the Institutes of Ethnology, Prehistory and Cultural Studies.

On Wilhelmstrasse, which leads north from the Old Town of Tübingen, are the Old Botanic Garden (Alter Botanischer Garten), the Neue Aula of the University and the University Library (Universitätsbibliothek), in the Old Building of which are displayed the figures carved from mammoth tusks, some 27,000 years old, which were discovered in the Lone valley in 1931.On the slopes of the Schnarrenberg are the University clinics. Higher up, on the Morgenstelle, are the new buildings of the Faculty of Science and the New Botanic Garden.

5km/3mi north of Tübingen is Bebenhausen Abbey, a Cistercian house founded about 1185 which ranks with Maulbronn as one of the finest and best preserved monastic houses in Germany.