In 1584 Herborn received the high school, founded by Johann VI. von Nassau-Dillenburg, a younger brother of Wilhelm von Orange and namesake of today's Johanneum high school.
1584 was by Count Johann VI. Nassau-Dillenburg founded the Academia Nassauensis, the High School Herborn. This university, which was reformed from the beginning by its founding father, the theologian Caspar Olevian, and at the same time similar to a university, initially had no faculties. Despite repeated efforts, in 1750 there was still no imperial privilege for the use of the designation "university" and the privileges associated with it. Because the emperor, despite the undisputed high quality of teaching, refused to grant the high school university privileges, it never had the right to award doctorates.
In any case, the high school soon became one of the most important educational institutions for the Calvinist Reformed in Europe. It was the only reformed university in Germany. Her most important student was the pedagogue Johann Amos Comenius. He studied in Herborn from 1611 to 1613. The high school was closed in 1817 by the Duchy of Nassau, which was established in 1806. Its theological faculty was converted into the only “theological seminary” of the Evangelical Church in Nassau (since 1933 and 1947 Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau) and settled in Herborn Castle. In 1825 the later prelate (regional bishop) of the Baden regional church, Ludwig Hüffell, was appointed professor in Herborn.
The original buildings are used as a hotel and restaurant. The auditorium offers the city's associations (including the Schlaraffia “Ob der Dill”) event opportunities. On the upper floors is the city museum with collections and special exhibitions on the early history of the dill area, the history of the high school and the city of Herborn.
For over 25 years the premises have been used once a year for a scientific symposium on the life sciences as part of the Old Herborn University. [8] The lectures will be published in the seminar volumes of Old Herborn University.