Magdeburg and the OvGU
The university and cathedral city of Magdeburg, state capital of Saxony-Anhalt, is a modern city with a turbulent history. Given its 1,200 years, Magdeburg can look back on a past which is without parallel in Central Germany. As an Imperial City, a Hansa town and a Prussian fortress, Magdeburg was again and again visited by wars and devastation and always rebuilt anew.
Already Charlemagne recognized the outstanding strategic position of the city; Emperor Otto the Great made his favorite city an archiepiscopal center and thereby helped Magdeburg attain European significance. Thanks to the activity of the reformer Martin Luther, the great city on the Elbe then became the center of the Protestant Reformation. Otto von Guericke-the city's mayor and name-patron of our university-was active throughout Europe as an esteemed diplomat and became well-known as the father of experimental physics. His famous "Magdeburger Semispheres" experiment strikingly proved the existence of the vacuum. Georg Philipp Telemann is the city's musical son.
Magdeburg forms the hub of the Strasse der Romanik-the Romanesque Way-one of the state's main tourist attractions. The history-laden route which winds throughout Saxony-Anhalt begins and ends here in the state capital.
In addition to its rich history and its many historic buildings, Magdeburg has made a name for itself as a modern city of sport, thanks to the achievements of the top athletes of the Sportclub Magdeburg, and has successfully proved itself as a nation-wide training ground and Olympic springboard. The handball players of SCM are a successful team who have been enthralling their public for decades. The football team of the FCM has won a name among football fans not only due to their newly built stadium.
In the last few years, Magdeburg has also developed into a significant site of scientific endeavor. The centers of higher learning of the city have built up a considerable infrastructure of research and scientific study, making possible a close network uniting theory and practice, research and application.
Today Magdeburg is home to some 230,000 inhabitants, including around 13,000 students at the university, in a wonderful green environment along the Elbe, where the City Park on Rotehorn Island is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful in Saxony-Anhalt.
Here you can see some facts about the city and sightseeings of Magdeburg an about the Studentenwerk.
Events, tickets, parks and more...
The green citadel of Magdeburg - An architectural artwork by Friedensreich Hundertwasser
Studentenwerk Magdeburg - your partner when it comes to studying!