The history of the first Bavarian university spans a period of 328 years. To this day, the university's rich heritage bears witness to the importance of science and education in a world in transformation. More than 550 years after Bavaria's first university was founded, the buildings around the square at the Hohe Schule will be filled with academic life again —a special moment in Bavarian scientific history.

1458

Duke Ludwig the Rich approaches Pope Pius II and proposes the establishment of a university. On April 7, 1459, Pius agrees to the proposal.

"The plague is very rare here [...]. There are also forests around the town, inviting for walks as well as hunting. There are magnificent churches in the city, especially the Temple of Our Lady, which offers sufficient space for large academic festivals [...]. The houses are spacious, some are magnificent, they contain apartments for more than a thousand students [...]."

In a letter to the Pope, Duke Ludwig the Rich praises the advantages of Ingolstadt as a university city.

1472

After the ceremonial opening of the university on June 26, 1472, the High School begins its lectures. The still young university quickly develops its strength. Ingolstadt becomes one of the most important universities in the German-speaking world alongside Prague and Vienna. From the very beginning, the lecturers also impart humanistic educational concepts.

1510

Johannes Eck takes up a theological professorship at the Bavarian State University of Ingolstadt. He soon became one of Martin Luther's best-known opponents. Under his leadership, the state university became an intellectual center of resistance to the ideas of the Reformation.

1552

Philipp Apian becomes Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at the University of Ingolstadt. He maps the whole of Bavaria on behalf of Duke Albrecht V. The result is a 6×6 meter map, which Apian then reproduces in a smaller format in his own print shop. This is how the famous "Bayerische Landtafeln" were created, which were only surpassed in accuracy in the 19th century.

1618

During the Thirty Years' War, the city of Ingolstadt is heavily embattled. Up to this point, Ingolstadt was one of the five major German universities. Students come from France, Spain, Italy and England, but also from Eastern Europe. But the decline in student numbers was unstoppable. The university increasingly fell into a crisis and did not recover even after 1648.

1613

Christoph Schreiner receives a Chair of Mathematics and Hebrew at the University of Ingolstadt. In 1613, he built the first astronomical telescope. Soon afterwards, he set up an observatory in the tower of the Church of the Holy Cross in Ingolstadt, from where he discovered the sunspots. The dispute with Galileo Galilei was soon no longer just about the first discovery and explanation of sunspots: the struggle for the Copernican world view had begun.

1736

For many years, the High School was the main building of the university until 1736, when a separate building for experiments in natural sciences and medicine was added: the anatomy department.  The "Old Anatomy" has been preserved to this day. It has housed the German Museum of Medical History since 1973.

1745

After the university came under the leadership of the Jesuits in the mid-16th century, the humanistic-philosophical education increasingly gave way and the university's reputation dwindled. The situation only changed when Elector Max III. Joseph came to power. The university becomes a center of enlightenment, the first chemical experiments are carried out and a training clinic is founded.

1800

Although the university flourished once again, political upheaval and territorial changes towards the end of the 18th century had an impact. It is no longer possible to catch up with pioneering new universities such as Halle or Göttingen. The university in Ingolstadt closes its doors in 1800 – as do other universities at this time.

1817

Alois Ponschab acquires the Georgianum and establishes a restaurant and the Herrnbräu brewery in the main building of the former university. New buildings are erected, such as the barrel hall that still exists today. For more than 150 years, until 1972, the brewery was based in the city center.

1818

Mary Shelley publishes her novel "Frankenstein". The novel is set at Ingolstadt University and tells the story of how Viktor Frankenstein creates an artificial human being. Mary Shelley probably never visited Ingolstadt. Nevertheless, she decided to set her novel at Ingolstadt University. The conflicts between the Jesuit order and the Enlightenment, the Faculty of Medicine and the anatomical experiments were well known.

1981

The City of Ingolstadt acquires the building complex. The commercial enterprise that has occupied the premises since the 1970s moves out in the summer of 2000. In the years that followed, the Georgianum with its church building and barrel hall stood empty.

2019

The Collegium Georgianum is recognized as an architectural monument of national importance by the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments. The college building is restored in the following years. A campus prison – the second oldest student detention room in Germany (“Karzer” in German) – is discovered. The historic wall paintings in the state room are cleaned and are now visible again.

2023

After a long period of preparation, the Mathematical Institute for Machine Learning and Data Science (MIDS) of the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt opened in the Georgianum on July 27, 2023. The institute's research covers questions of weather and climate modelling, digitalization and artificial intelligence.