Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany

🇩🇪 Göttingen is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it.

General information The origins of Göttingen lay in a village called Gutingi, first mentioned in a document in 953 AD. The city was founded north-west of this village, between 1150 and 1200 AD, and adopted its name. In medieval times the city was a member of the Hanseatic League and hence a wealthy town.

Today, Göttingen is famous for its old university (Georgia Augusta, or "Georg-August-Universität"), which was founded in 1734 (first classes in 1737) and became the most visited university of Europe. In 1837, seven professors protested against the absolute sovereignty of the kings of Hanover; they lost their positions, but became known as the "Göttingen Seven". Its alumni include some well-known historical figures: the Brothers Grimm, Heinrich Ewald, Wilhelm Eduard Weber and Georg Gervinus. Also, German Chancellors Otto von Bismarck and Gerhard Schröder attended law school at the Göttingen University. Karl Barth held his first professorship here. Some of the most famous mathematicians in history, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Bernhard Riemann and David Hilbert, were professors at Göttingen.

Like other university towns, Göttingen has developed its own quaint traditions. On the day they are awarded their doctorate degrees, students are drawn in handcarts from the Great Hall to the Gänseliesel-Fountain in front of the Old Town Hall. There they have to climb the fountain and kiss the statue of the Gänseliesel (goose girl). This practice is actually forbidden, but the law is not enforced. The statue is considered the most kissed girl in the world.

Nearly untouched by Allied bombing in World War II, the inner city of Göttingen is now an attractive place to live with many shops, cafes and bars. For this reason, many university students live in the inner city and give Göttingen a youthful feel. In 2003, 45% of the inner city population was only between 18 and 30 years of age.

Commercially, Göttingen is noted for its production of optical and precision-engineered machinery, being the seat of the light microscopy division of Carl Zeiss, Inc., and a main site for Sartorius AG which specialises in bio-technology and measurement equipment—the region around Göttingen advertises itself as "Measurement Valley".

Unemployment in Göttingen was 12.6% in 2003 and is now 7% (March 2014). The city's railway station to the west of the city centre is on Germany's main north–south railway.

Göttingen has two professional basketball teams; both the men's and women's teams play in the Basketball-Bundesliga. For the 2022–23 season, both teams will play in the 1st division.

Transport The Göttingen bus system is run by the GöVB (Göttinger Verkehrsbetriebe). Buses run throughout the city and to the neighboring villages, as well as intercity bus services from the station Göttingen ZOB, adjacent to the railway station.

Göttingen railway station lies west of the medieval town centre and provides links to several destinations in Germany.

Like most German cities, the town is bicycle-friendly, with bicycle paths throughout the commercial areas (except for in pedestrian-only shopping areas) and beyond. The time to pedal downtown from the outskirts is fifteen to twenty minutes.