Buildings for Education

This large red brick building once housed the ‘Girls’ High School’. Today, it is simply called the Rote Schule, the ‘red school’. The building dates from 1896, more than 150 years after Francke died. By the late 19th century, Francke’s Institutions for orphans and the poor had grown to become a ‘school town’. Yet although the individual schools were aligned with the Prussian school system, each school nonetheless retained its own particular ‘Francke’ character. The Girls’ High School, too, was imbued by the spirit of August Hermann Francke.

To the right behind the Rote Schule, you can see a whitewashed building – the Historic Children’s Infirmary. The patients were looked after by medical students supervised by the Orphanage Doctor. In this way, the students gained experience in treating patients. In return, they were given free board and lodging in the Foundations. In that sense, the children’s infirmary was the first teaching hospital in Germany, since it introduced a period of practical medical experience that is today a mandatory part of medical training.

The larger Francke’s Institutions grew, the more difficult it became to provide all the food needed every day for the pupils, teachers and staff. In 1727, for example, the elementary schools had around 1700 pupils. There were nearly another 500 pupils attending the grammar and higher schools. In total, Francke had over 2000 pupils to feed everyday – and most of them ate for free. Francke’s budget was never capable of buying that amount of food on a daily basis.

This school building houses the ‘Latina’ – a classics-based Grammar School. Although the building only dates from 1904 to 1906, the school itself continues the tradition of the old grammar school founded by Francke in 1697. For a long time, the first Francke grammar school was housed in the Historic Orphanage, where our tour started.

Whether elementary school, grammar school, girls’ high school or Pedagogium ‑ all the Francke schools shared one common feature: lessons were never boring. Francke valued clarity in teaching and the use of realia and models in class. Moreover, he constantly ensured that the pupils learnt things they could already apply now and later in life.

Leran more about the education in Francke's schools.

This three-winged building was constructed in 1952. It is named after Hans Ahrbeck, a famous educational reformer who worked here after the Second World War.

In 1946, after the end of the war, the foundations lost their independence. All buildings, archives, libraries, collections and the entire foundation's assets were placed under the control of Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. Francke's legacy was now continued under completely different circumstances: instead of Christian education with different types of schools, the socialist comprehensive school was on the agenda. New buildings like this one changed the appearance of the old facilities, while the historic school buildings, insofar as they had survived the war undamaged, were no longer maintained and fell into disrepair, eventually becoming completely neglected.

The barn was one of the old dairy buildings from Francke's time. This farm produced everything that was needed in the institutions: milk, eggs, vegetables, beef and pork. Hay, straw, grain and other farm produce were stored in the barn. Today, the dairy is used by the university, the Family Competence Centre and the Francke Foundations' sports club. The barn is also home to the international games house, where you can borrow games from all over the world and play them together.