After a trip, a colleague recently reported to the SZ office in Franconia and recited a eulogy. So this Nuremberg at night, when a pleasant rumor settles over the old town on the Burgberg – he finds that “totally fascinating”. And of course he had been there before. But as? He doesn’t remember Nuremberg.
One can only agree with the observation. When evening falls and the temperature is above freezing, the Tiergärtnertorplatz is reminiscent of Siena: a stadium-like rising piazza with young people sitting cross-legged on it. One is well advised to secure a spot on the cobblestones in good time.
But that’s been the case for a long time! Is correct. But man can’t be everywhere. And so there is no need to be ashamed of revising old memories and value judgements.
Which brings you to Passau: Yes, word has gotten around that there are significantly more than three rivers there. But would you have seriously considered this city – let’s say: in the 1990s – as a place to study? After all, Passau was under the well-documented suspicion that a single cabaret stage struggling for liberality was in a somewhat lost position against the dominance of the church and the local press. So it wouldn’t even have been an option – because: stuffy somehow.
And then you are standing in Passau in the rainy spring, young people are dancing on the cathedral square, the cool cafés around can easily keep up with those in big cities and at the neighboring tables people are discussing cultural semiotics or the latest fad in the humanities, in English. Casual somehow.
The University? Located directly on the Inn. And not only that: Such a combination of multi-faculty campus and direct connection to the old town is hard to find anywhere else. The classic campus in Bavaria – for example in Würzburg, Regensburg, Bayreuth – is usually quite far away. And then, compared to Passau, it is aesthetically immensely challenging.
But of course this is anything but new. The specialist body Unicum even voted the Uni am Inn “Germany’s most beautiful campus”. So you could have known.