The Goose Girl of Göttingen

Located halfway betwixt Hamburg too Frankfurt , nigh to the Harz mountains , the town of Göttingen is best known for its academy which was founded inwards 1734 too gradually became i of the nigh renowned too the nigh visited academy of Europe. The University of Göttingen has produced well-known historical figures , philosophers , mathematicians too scientists inwards diverse disciplines , including 47 Nobel laureates who had either studied or worked here. John von Neumann , Werner Heisenberg , Enrico Fermi , Carl Friedrich Gauss , Bernhard Riemann , David Hilbert , too J. Robert Oppenheimer , to yell a few , were all students at the University of Göttingen. Famous physicists Max Planck , Neils Bohr , too Max Born taught here.

Understandably , Göttingen became officially a 'University town' amongst nearly one-third of its electrical flow population either students or faculty too staff employed past times the university. And similar nigh academy towns , Göttingen has developed its ain quaint traditions. One of them involves the bronze statue at a outpouring inwards front end of the onetime town hall.

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Photo credit: AKA 64/Panoramio

The statue of the Goose Girl or Gänseliesel was erected inwards 1901 later on the onetime outpouring , which was falling apart , was pulled down. The statue depicts a immature daughter carrying iii geese inwards her arms. Although Wikipedia maintains that the “Gänseliesel outpouring does non accept whatever detail connector to the history of the town ,” it can’t live on a mere coincidence that the writer of the famous fairy tale “Goose Girl” , based on which the statue was created , were the Brothers Grimm who were too an alumni of the University.

In whatever illustration , presently later on the statue too outpouring was erected , a tradition developed. Every educatee who acquires a doctorate marking at the University of Göttingen are drawn inwards handcarts from the Great Hall to the Gänseliesel outpouring , where they are required to climb the outpouring too buss the statue of the goose girl. Bouquets of flowers are too offered. Originally , all newly enrolled students got the guide a opportunity to buss the statue precisely the tradition changed over time. Now entirely doctorates are allowed to hit so.

Officially , the exercise is forbidden precisely non enforced. In fact , both the urban marrow of Göttingen too the academy advertise themselves amongst pictures of PhD graduates kissing the girl.

Unfortunately , due to vandalism the master copy statue created past times the sculptor Paul Nisse was removed too is instantly kept at the town’s museum. What you lot encounter instantly at the outpouring is a copy.

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