CULTURE

Five facts you don't know about the University of Bologna, the world's oldest university

The Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is an Italian state university. Active since the 11th century, it is considered by many sources to be the oldest university in the world still in operation. 

A protagonist in the cultural and academic life of the whole of Europe for more than a millennium, its history is long and glorious and, over the centuries, it has contributed decisively to the creation of other similar models, as well as having given a great hand to the spread of culture throughout the Old Continent and beyond. 

As the oldest still functioning university in the world, there are many of its secrets and curiosities that you should know before visiting it during your tour of Bologna.

By Ugeorge - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=82079479
Five things you may not know about the University of Bologna, the oldest university in the world
The Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is an Italian state university. Active since the 11th century, it is considered by many sources to be the oldest university in the world still in operation.  A protagonist in the cultural and academic life of the whole of Europe for more than a millennium, its history is long and glorious and, over the centuries, it has contributed decisively to the creation of other similar models, as well as having given a great hand to the spread of culture throughout the Old Continent and beyond.  As the oldest still functioning university in the world, there are many of its secrets and curiosities that you should know before visiting it during your tour of Bologna.
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In Bologna, the first undergraduate course
The University of Bologna was the first university to establish a degree course in the modern sense of the term. In 1364, a degree course in law was established, which set a model followed by other universities in Europe.
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Since 1158, the Athenaeum has been a place of research
Federico Barbarossa, with the introduction of the Constitutio Habita of 1158, made the University of Bologna a place of research independent of politics. Until then, however, it was the municipality, hence the city administration, that guaranteed the continuity of lectures and teaching.
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The Archiginnasium
The Archiginnasio, located in Piazza Galvani, is the ancient seat of the University, the historical one and culturally the most relevant: among its flagships is the Municipal Library but above all the Anatomical Theatre, a room built of fir wood where anatomy lessons were held, one of the most significant testimonies to the city's glorious university tradition. It is said that the first autopsy and dissection of a corpse open to students was held in this hall.
By Carlo Pelagalli, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47128936
Among his students, alumni of a certain level
Thanks to its renown and the variety of its courses, over the centuries the University of Bologna hosted the highest exponents of European culture. Regarding Italy alone, suffice it to say that the two greatest Italian poets, Dante Alighieri and Francesco Petrarca, studied in Bologna. Other famous artists to have frequented the corridors of the Alma Mater were Thomas Becket, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Torquato Tasso, Carlo Goldoni, Pico della Mirandola and Niccolò Copernico.
By Mattia Barci - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=113419188
The Magna Carta Universitatum
For the University's ninth centenary celebrations, a very special ceremony was held. As can also be read on the university's official website, "in Piazza Maggiore, 430 European rectors, joined by 372 from all over the world, signed the Magna Carta Universitatum, in which the independence and freedom of teaching, elements that have always been constituent elements of the University of Bologna, was celebrated to this day. On that occasion, the University was once again recognised as the mother of all universities, as the Alma Mater Studiorum".
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