The Von Bock House

On 6 September 2007, the newly renovated von Bock house (16 Ülikooli St.) was opened to the public. The event was marked by the unveiling of a mural painted on the side of the building facing the Town Hall, and of a photo exhibition by Alar Madisson installed on the side of the building facing Jakobi Street. The mural depicts the main building of the university and the photo exhibition, titled Aknal III (On A Window III), is a collection of portraits of famous professors and other university academics.

The mural is an exact likeness of Louis Höflinger's engraving from 1860. The blueprint for the giant reproduction of the engraving was prepared by Maarja Roosi, a computer graphic designer/artist working at the university's IT Office. The mural itself was painted on the wall by a group of Tartu Art College students under the supervision of Madis Liplap and Valentin Vaher, both teachers at the college.

The Aknal III exhibition depicts legendary professors and venerable academics currently employed at the university. They were selected to be part of the exhibition from among the acadamic staff working in the four principal research domains of the university: humanities, social sciences, natural and exact sciences, and medical sciences. Eligible candidates had to be well known, socially active and popular among students.

The renovation of the von Bock house started in the autumn of 2006. According to Merje Müürisepp, UT architect, the late baroque building is now a robust, dark pink hue characteristic of the period and its early neoclassical façade is a suitably pale yellow. "The new façade colours have been selected to match the original colour scheme, in tune with the spirit of the era," said Müürisepp. The renovation of the von Bock house façade cost nearly 3 million kroons.