Founded in 1409, Leipzig University is one of the world’s oldest universities and the second-oldest surviving university in Germany after Heidelberg University. Thanks to its age and prestige, it is still an institution full of rare historical pieces: its botanical garden is the second-oldest botanical garden in Europe, the University’s Musical Instrument Museum includes one of the world’s three surviving pianos built by Bartolomeo Cristofori, the piano’s inventor, and the university’s library contains some of the most precious manuscripts in the world. It also boast an excellent list of alumni, that include: Gottfried Leibniz, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Sebastian Bach, Leopold von Ranke, Friedrich Nietzsche, Robert Schumann, Richard Wagner, Tycho Brahe, Angela Merkel and nine Nobel prize winners. The university has a large body of more than 3.000 international students.