combined.
Marburg is the seat of the oldest protestant founded university in the world, the University of Marburg (Philipps-Universit�t-Marburg), founded in 1527. It is one of the smaller "university towns" in Germany: Greifswald, Erlangen, Jena, and T�bingen, as well as the city of Gie�en, which is located 30 km south of Marburg.
In 1529, Philipp I of Hesse arranged the Marburg Colloquy, to propitiate Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli.
Owing to its neglect during the entire 18th century Marburg � like Rye or Chartres � survived as a relatively intact Gothic town, simply because there was no money spent on any new architecture or expansion. When Romanticism became the dominant cultural and artistic paradigm in Germany, Marburg became interesting once again, and many of the leaders of the movement lived, taught, or studied in Marburg. They formed a circle of friends that was of great importance, especially in literature, philology, folklore, and law. The group included Friedrich Karl von Savigny, the most important jurist of his day and father of the Roman Law adaptation in Germany; the poets, writers, and social activists Achim von Arnim, Clemens Brentano, and especially the latter's sister and former's later wife, Bettina von Arnim. Most famous internationally, however, were the Brothers Grimm, who collected many of their fairy tales here. The original building inspiring his drawing Rapunzel's Tower stands in Am�nau near Marburg. Across the Lahn hills, in the area called Schwalm, little girls' costumes included a red hood.
It has to be said, however, that this circle had disappeared from Marburg by the 1820s, and for another 45 years, Marburg became a Hessian backwater again.
In the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, the reactionary Prince-elector of Hesse had backed Austria; Prussia won, and invaded (without any bloodshed) and annexed Electorate of Hessen (as well as Hanover, the City of Frankfurt, and other territories) north of the
