page_title: University of Mainz
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: University of Mainz / History
caption_attribution_description: Statue of Johann Gutenberg on the Campus of the Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz, Germany
context_page_description: The University of Mainz is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approximately 32,000 students in about 100 schools and clinics, it is among the largest universities in Germany. Starting on 1 January 2005 the university was reorganized into 11 faculties of study.
  The university is a member of the German U15, a coalition of fifteen major research-intensive and leading medical universities in Germany. The Johannes Gutenberg University is considered one of the most prestigious universities in Germany.
  The university is part of the IT-Cluster Rhine-Main-Neckar. The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, the Goethe University Frankfurt and the Technische Universität Darmstadt together form the Rhine-Main-Universities.
context_section_description: The first University of Mainz goes back to the Archbishop of Mainz, Prince-elector and Reichserzkanzler Adolf II von Nassau. At the time, establishing a university required papal approval and Adolf II initiated the approval process during his time in office. The university, however, was first opened in 1477 by Adolf's successor to the bishopric, Diether von Isenburg. In 1784 the University was opened up for Protestants and Jews (curator Anselm Franz von Betzel). It fastly became one of the largest Catholic universities in Europe with ten chairs in theology alone. In the confusion after the establishment of the Mainz Republic of 1792 and its subsequent recapture by the Prussians, academic activity came to a gradual standstill. In 1798 the university became active again under French governance, and lectures in the department of medicine took place until 1823. Only the faculty of theology continued teaching during the 19th century, albeit as a theological Seminary (since 1877 "College of Philosophy and Theology").
  The current Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz was founded in 1946 by the French occupying power. In a decree on 1 March the French military government implied that the University of Mainz would continue to exist: the University shall be "enabled to resume its function". The remains of anti-aircraft warfare barracks erected in 1938 after the remilitarization of the Rhineland during the Third Reich served as the university's first buildings and are still in use today.
  The continuation of academic activity between the old university and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, in spite of an interruption spanning over 100 years, is contested. During the time up to its reopening only a seminary and midwifery college survived.
  In 1972, the effect of the 1968 student protests began to take a toll on the University's structure. The departments (Fakultäten) were dismantled and the University was organized into broad fields of study (Fachbereiche). Finally in 1974 Peter Schneider was elected as the first president of what was now a "constituted group-university" institute of higher education. In 1990 Jürgen Zöllner became University President yet spent only a year in the position after he was appointed Minister for "Science and Advanced Education" for the State of Rhineland-Palatinate. As the coordinator for the SPD's higher education policy, this furloughed professor from the Institute for Physiological Chemistry played a decisive role in the SPD's higher education policy and in the development of Study Accounts.
caption: Statue of Johannes Gutenberg at the University of Mainz
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