Development of the University of Mannheim

The development of the University of Mannheim is closely linked to the history of the Schloss Mannheim (see Historical Data at a Glance). Please go to the website of the Schloss Museum for further information.

The origins of the University of Mannheim date back to the Städtische Handelshochschule Mannheim (Commercial College of the City of Mannheim), which was founded in 1907 on the initiative of Mannheim's bourgeoisie. Funded by the Chamber of Commerce, the institution, which functioned as a college for future merchants up to the 1930s, became a center for higher education. The college offered courses in business administration and economics as well as in philosophy, history, arts, and natural sciences. Between the world wars, the college was added an institute for psychology and educational sciences and an institute for interpreters.

In 1933, the Handelshochschule was merged into the University of Heidelberg under National Socialist rule. Only 3 out of 14 Jewish teachers survived the Holocaust. Among the victims was Otto Selz, the head of the institute for psychology and president of the Handelshochschule. Today, the Otto-Selz-Straße, a street that begins at the east wing and goes around the university, commemorates the renowned pioneer of cognitive psychology.

When Carl Theodor assumed his regency over the Electoral Palatinate in 1743, the Schloss Mannheim was still unfinished. By 1760, work on the building of the east wing and the adjacent complex of palace buildings modeled on Versailles was concluded, thus completing the baroque palace building. The earliest starting point of the university’s tradition is the royal court library of Carl Theodor, today’s Aula. With the collection rapidly growing to 100,000 volumes, the library rated among the most important libraries of the time. Carl Theodor did not distinguish himself by military glory; yet, he was a generous patron of music, theater, and science. A connoisseur of the arts, he promoted a musical culture of European standing, and in 1779, he founded the National Theater. However, he was not only famous for his appreciation of the arts, but also cultivated sciences, and promoted trade. In 2007/2008, history students and senior citizen students, headed by the historian Dr. Rosmarie Günther, prepared information panels for the university’s most important lecture halls and publicly accessible rooms in the Schloss providing brief descriptions of the rooms’ respective function at the time of Carl Theodor (1743-1778).