Freie Universität Berlin

Around Berlin


The Free University is one of three public universities in Berlin, with nearly 31,500 students hitting the books in numerous buildings spread across Dahlem. It was founded in 1948 in reaction to the growing restrictions on academic freedoms imposed on students and faculty at the Humboldt University, then in the Soviet-occupied sector.

Lectures started in the spring of 1949 and were initially held in empty villas throughout Dahlem. In the 1960s the university played a leading role in Germany's student movement, which sparked major nationwide academic and political reforms.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Around Berlin attractions

1. ‘Berlin Brain’

0.07 MILES

British architect Norman Foster was the brain behind the ‘Berlin Brain’, a cranial-shaped 2005 masterpiece of modern architecture that houses the Freie…

2. Museum Europäischer Kulturen

0.38 MILES

Everyday culture and cultural contact in Europe from the 18th century to the present is the focus of this museum, which also examines such topical themes…

3. Freilichtmuseum Domäne Dahlem

0.51 MILES

Pat a potbellied pig or clamber on a historical tractor at this open-air museum that’s actually a modern working farm attached to a rambling manor house…

4. AlliiertenMuseum Berlin

0.76 MILES

The original Checkpoint Charlie guard cabin, a Berlin Airlift plane and a reconstructed spy tunnel are among the dramatic exhibits at the Allied Museum,…

5. Botanischer Garten & Museum

0.84 MILES

Berlin’s vast Freie Universität Berlin–affiliated botanical gardens boast 22,000 plant species. It's an inspirational spot to reconnect with nature…

6. Kunsthaus Dahlem

1.23 MILES

This private art museum in the monumental studio of Nazi-era sculptor Arno Breker presents modernist works created in Germany in the years between WWII…

7. Brücke-Museum

1.26 MILES

In 1905 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Erich Heckel and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner founded Germany’s first modern-artist group, called Die Brücke (The Bridge)…

8. Marlene Dietrich Grave

2.28 MILES

Germany's first actress to hit the big time in Hollywood, Marlene Dietrich was born in Schöneberg in 1901. In 1992 the 'Blue Angel' moved into her final…