Wilhelm Wundt Building: Restoration has started

Großbothen/Neuruppin, 27. June 2022

Reconstruction works of the Wilhelm Wundt Building in Großbothen near Grimma officially started on Saturday, 25 June, in combination with an MHB-organized meeting. Participants of the gathering with presentations on the history of psychology were mainly young MHB scientists and students. Potential uses of the historical building remain to be decided. Financial support for the meeting was provided by the Foundation Lotte Köhler.

According to Dr. Andreas Jüttemann (organizer of the meeting and research associate at the MHB Institute of Anatomy), the building is the only remaining domicile of Wilhelm Wundt, famous scientist and most prominent founding father of academic psychology: “Grimma is where he completed his late works and enjoyed a close friendship with Nobel Prize winner Wilhelm Ostwald who displayed a keen interest in philosophy as well as natural sciences.”

The building where Wundt lived (and died in 1920) and which used to have a dedication board during the GDR era changed ownership after reunification. “The new owners left the historically significant building to decay until Katharina Ungerer-Heuck, preservationist and Wundt researcher, ensured acquisition of the building in 2017. Public funds of € 500,000 were raised to stop further decay,” so Jüttemann who is also active on the board of the sponsors’ association. Restoration is expected to be completed in 2023, while future uses are still open.

Early in 2022 the MHB assumed patronage of a fundraising programme targeted primarily at psychologists and physicians, the aim being “to identify and finance uses with reference to the history of psychology. One idea that came up in discussions was accommodation for a scholarship holder, specifically with a view to international connections. Graduates from, say, the Wilhelm Wundt Center in Brazil, the Center for History of Psychology in York/Canada, or from China may spend a research period here. This type of use would also suggest a small library and archive facilities.”

Donations are welcome to the following account:

Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg Spendenkonto
Sparkasse Ostprignitz-Ruppin
IBAN: DE44 1605 0202 1001 0390 80
BIC: WELADED1OPR
Please add as purpose of transfer: Wilhelm-Wundt-Haus.

Contact:
PD Dr. Andreas Jüttemann
Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg
andreas.juettemann@mhb-fontane.de