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Old Latin School

Short facts

  • Hann. Münden

Where today a small lime tree carefully stretches out its branches, there once stood a court lime tree as tall as a house. At that time, the rulers of Münden decided right and wrong under this lime tree. Because it was believed that the truth always came to light under a lime tree.

Behind the lime tree, and no longer visible today, stood the Latin School of Münden. It was built in 1585 on the instructions of Duke Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, who had inherited the principality of Göttingen-Calenberg from his childless uncle Erich II. With the Latin school, Julius continued the efforts of his grandmother Duchess Elisabeth. The famous Reformation princess had already begun 40 years before the Latin school was built to employ new teachers instead of Catholic clergy and to put the school system on a new footing.  

The task of the Latin school was to prepare its pupils for a clerical profession or for studies at a university. The most prominent pupil of the Latin School in Münden was certainly the linguist Georg Friedrich Grotefend, who acquired the tools for his later life as a researcher here until the age of 16. As the son of the Münden shoemaker guild master, he was initially supposed to continue the family tradition. But his mother eventually prevailed and Grotefend was able to continue on the academic path at Göttingen University after attending Latin school.

There he became a scientific luminary and achieved the seemingly impossible by deciphering the cuneiform script. The decisive factor was a bet with his friend Rafaello Fiorillo, secretary of the library in Göttingen. The latter claimed that it was impossible to decipher an unknown inscription if one neither knew which language it was based on nor the content. With the help of logical thinking, a lot of fiddling and great zeal, Grotefend succeeded in deciphering the Persian cuneiform script in only a few months. He thus laid the foundation for further Oriental studies.

With good reason, he also gave his name to today's grammar school in Hann. Münden,  probably in the hope that his example would encourage the offspring.

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Hann. Münden Marketing GmbH
Lotzestraße 2
34346 Hann. Münden
Deutschland

Phone: +49 5541 / 75313
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Website: hann.muenden-erlebnisregion.de

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