Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen

University of Giessen

Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen
Type	Public
Established	1607
Rector	Joybrato Mukherjee
Academic staff	3,039
Administrative staff	2,394
Students	28,454
Location	Gießen, Hesse, Germany
Colors	Blue and white
Affiliations	German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), German Research Council (DFG)
Website	www.uni-giessen.de

The University of Giessen, officially called Justus Liebig University Giessen (German: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von Liebig, the founder of modern agricultural chemistry and inventor of artificial fertiliser. It covers the areas of arts/humanities, business, dentistry, economics, law, medicine, science, social sciences, and veterinary medicine. Its university hospital, which has two sites, Giessen and Marburg (the latter of which is the teaching hospital of the University of Marburg), is the only private university hospital in Germany.

The University of Giessen is among the oldest institutions of higher educations in the German-speaking world. It was founded in 1607 as a Lutheran university in the city of Giessen in Hesse-Darmstadt because the all-Hessian Landesuniversität (the nearby University of Marburg (Philipps-Universität Marburg) in Marburg, Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel)) had become Reformed (that is, Calvinist). Louis V, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, whence the university got its original name "Ludoviciana," founded his own institution of higher education in Giessen, which as a Lutheran institution had the primary function of ensuring the education of pastors and civil servants. Endowed with a charter issued by Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, on 19 May 1607, the university was allowed to proceed with instruction in October 1607. During the Thirty Years' War, when Hesse-Darmstadt was able to take the area around Marburg for itself, the university in Giessen ceased instruction and was moved back to its more long-standing location in Marburg (1624/25). The Peace of Westphalia led to the restoration of the old location and in 1650 to the relocation of the university to Giessen.