University main building, University administrative building in Greifswald, Germany

The university's main building is a three-story rectangular structure with 23 window bays and mansard roofs featuring segmental arch dormers. It houses the rector's office, administrative departments, and meeting halls at Domstraße 11 in central Greifswald.

Duke Ernst Ludwig of Pomerania commissioned the first independent university building, begun in 1591 and opened in 1597, though construction continued for about 20 years. After it became dilapidated, Andreas Mayer designed a new main building on the same foundations, erected between 1747 and 1750 and inaugurated on 28 April 1750, the birthday of King Frederick of Sweden.

The former baroque library hall has served as the Aula since 1882. Its gallery rests on 24 marbled wooden Ionic columns arranged in twelve pairs, and between the pairs stand herms of the nine Muses with Apollo, Minerva and Mercury. The sculptor Jakob Freese of Stralsund made the plastic ornament; the ceiling stucco is only painted.

The building stands at Domstraße 11 in the old town, easily reached on foot and well integrated into the historic city layout. Keep in mind that this is an active administrative building, so not all areas are open to the public.

The council hall holds a gallery of 32 portraits of Greifswald rectors and deans, painted by Wilhelm Titel between 1831 and 1855. In the stairway to the rectorate hang a coat-of-arms stone of Duke Philipp I, carved in 1551 by Paul van Hove and brought from Wolgast Castle, and a white marble tablet commemorating the building's inauguration, made in 1751 by Jakob Freese.