Old University University Museum

Since 1996, the University Museum has been housed in the baroque “Old University” building. It tells the story of Ruperto Carola's development and diversity across the centuries.

The setting couldn't be more fitting. The museum occupies the ground floor of the building, built in 1712. Upstairs is the Old Assembly Hall (Alte Aula), and next door is the Student Prison (Studentenkarzer) - both living witnesses to the university's long history.

The Old Assembly Hall is still very much in use today, hosting lectures, concerts, and ceremonies – it's not a museum at all. Whenever it's possible, we're happy to let visitors take a peek inside.

The history of Heidelberg University unfolds across three rooms. The Red Room traces the story from its founding in 1386 to the end of the Old Empire in 1802, featuring originals and facsimiles from the University Archive and the Kurpfälzisches Museum.

In the Green Room, the focus shifts to the 19th century - the Heidelberg Romantic movement and the growing specialization of the natural sciences and medicine from the 1850s on. This was the era of Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff, who developed spectral analysis in 1859 - a method still used in science and industry today. Portraits, early photos of laboratory buildings, and instruments developed by Hermann Helmholtz capture a pivotal era that shaped much of modern life as we know it.

The Blue Room takes visitors from the Weimar Republic through the Nazi dictatorship to the rebuilding of democracy after 1945 - along with the growth in student numbers and the emergence of new research fields and campuses. The story concludes with the university's first success in the Excellence Initiative in 2010.

In the anteroom, rotating small exhibitions offer glimpses into Ruperto Carola's wide-ranging research and highlight the efforts of student and civic groups who help shape both university and city life.