Dessau

Bauhaus City in the Garden Kingdom

Dessau is home to the historic Bauhaus, the "cradle of modernity". The historical location’s magic can still be felt today - both in the artistic Masters’ Houses and the historical Mensa (cafeteria). The relaxed atmosphere, the inspiring dialogues with professors, and the short distances to travel - students are almost unanimous in their praise for the campus in Dessau.

The Departments of Architecture, Facility Management and Geoinformation, and the Department of Design are located right next to the legendary Bauhaus. The modern study facilities attract some 1,400 students who are supervised by 47 professors. There are nine professional workshops: Digital Workshop, Sculpture Workshop, SpaceLab, Wood Workshop, Photography Workshop, Video Workshop, Graphic Workshop, Metal Workshop, and TimeLab. This is where course projects are realized, and prototypes and models are designed and built. Afterwards, students can head over to the cozy “Café am Campus”. The city center is also nearby.

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© Hochschule Anhalt

Far beyond Germany's borders, Dessau is linked to the historic Bauhaus. The "cradle of modernity" and the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Kingdom attract tourists from all over the world. Modern residential areas, innovative design, experimental art, technical innovations, and school reforms - all these changes were accompanied by a rapidly growing industrial sector, which gave the region of present-day Saxony-Anhalt – despite the political and economic instability following the First World War – its enormous spirit of optimism. A social dynamic developed that catapulted the region into political, cultural, and artistic modernity. Today’s students take this period as a reference point for ideas and projects: Students have transformed an old empty school into a place where everyone can try out their ideas. There is room for start-ups, for co-workers, and for collaborative projects.

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© Stadtarchiv-Dessau-Roßlau

Dessau is the city most strongly linked to the Bauhaus. This is where the university, founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1919, has had its longest impact and experienced its heyday between 1925 and 1932. And it was here that almost all the Bauhaus buildings, which are now icons of 20th-century architecture, were created. Openness and curiosity were the most important principles back then. Those who came to Dessau were willing to give up what they thought they knew to re-learn how to think. That still holds true today.

About the campus
© Martin Brück 2005

Those who come to Dessau in the 21st century experience a city in transition. The demographic change can be felt in the city center where empty buildings are waiting for creative new uses, and in public life, where cuts to the cultural budget are a fact of life. These are challenges that are taken up on the campus in Dessau. Together with educational and cultural institutions such as the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation (Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau) and the Anhaltisches Theater, Anhalt University is committed to the future of the region. Both the campus and the city of Dessau are places of experimentation and development. And together, they aim to shape the future.

© Luftbild Dessau

82,919
inhabitants

244
area in km²

25
city districts

2
UNESCO World Heritage sites
© ©Drobot Dean - stock.adobe.com

Housing

Information from the Studentenwerk (Student Services) Halle and on accommodation possibilities in Dessau

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© Hochschule Anhalt

Leisure time

Information on the many recreational activities offered in Dessau and surround

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© Sam Sanchez; DokuTeam, Fachbereich Design Dessau, Hochschule Anhalt

Working

Information on student jobs at the university, job offers from external companies, and the current program of the Anhalt Center for Continuing Education (WZA)

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Only complete harmony between technical purpose and the proportion of forms can produce beauty.

Walter Gropius (1955 in: Architecture)

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