Wilhelm Wundt building: Topping-out ceremony

22 May 2023

Activities to rescue the Wilhelm Wundt building in Großbothen/Saxony have reached a further stage. The topping-out ceremony for the summer home and last residence of renowned German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt (1821 – 1920) took place on 9 May. After completed refurbishment the idea is to involve MHB students in the on-site organization of research activities, meetings and exhibitions with reference to the history of physiology and psychology. A research project is to be initiated at the MHB to identify potential uses of the building and establish long-term concepts to finance these plans. A fundraising campaign for the project was started under the auspices of the MHB. Prof. Andreas Jüttemann, vice president of the sponsors’ association for the building and MHB researcher into the history of medicine and psychology, hopes to draw further attention to the project in the context of the programme for Chemnitz as European Capital of Culture in 2025. In April this year he presented the project in Toronto/Canada, and he intends to invite international scholarship recipients to the Wilhelm Wundt building for extended studies of the history of physiology and psychology.

Prof. Andreas Jüttemann reports well-advanced work on the building constructed in 1903/04, despite various crises and shortages of material and skilled labour. Unexpected incidents such as water entering the basement and fungal decay in the stairwell required additional measures. But now new floor slabs have been installed and braced, and the roof structure has been completed to protect the building from exposure to weather.

The ceremony was an occasion to exhibit posters designed by MHB students in a course on “fundamentals of medicine in theory and practice” with reference to the regional history of psychology and psychiatry in the summer term 2022. Several contained information on Wilhelm Wundt and army surgeon Ernst Pienitz (1777 – 1853), state hospitals in the Kingdom of Saxony and “Medical Practice in World War I”.

^{Posters designed by MHB students and exhibited at the construction site.}

The Federal Government and the State of Saxony provide funding of approximately 500,000 Euro to renovate the former home of the professor from Leipzig who is considered the founder of psychology and in 1879 established the world’s first institute of experimental psychology. The ceremony was attended by representatives of the sponsors’ association and of the district of Leipzig, the latter having co-financed the printing costs for the posters.

Donations for the MHB research project in connection with Wilhelm Wundt are welcome. Account details:

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

The MHB is a non-profit institution and can issue donation receipts (starting from € 200) upon request (please indicate your address).

Anybody with an interest in the project is welcome to send an email to andreas.juettemann@mhb-fontane.de.