There will be a special ritual at HTWK Leipzig on 11 June 2025: the traditional "Gautschakt". It symbolises the ceremonial acceptance into the guild of Gutenberg's disciples. It thus ties in with a book printing tradition that is over 500 years old. The Leipzig University of Applied Sciences (HTWK Leipzig) invites you to this ceremony from 4 pm on the Gutenbergwiese at the car park behind the Gutenberg building in Gustav-Freytag-Straße.

Cleaning the outside and inside

The master of the Gautschmeister opens the ceremony with a drum roll and traditional sayings. With the help of the packers, the grain grooves are dragged to the vat - some try to escape! - and then often submerged several times. Finally, they are given a special potion. The prerequisite for being authorised to perform the "Gautschakt" is the lead typesetting internship, in which students on media degree programmes can learn how to work with traditional typography. As part of this practical course, the participants have printed their own personal authorisation to use the lead type - now it's time to give it to the students in a ceremonial act.

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Highlight for "Gautschlinge" and guests

All those who have successfully completed the ritual will receive an exclusive "Gautschbrief" afterwards. "It's not only a great reminder of an almost forgotten ritual in the printing or media design scene, but also a real visual highlight - to be honest, it looks better than my school-leaving certificate," says Dovile Scheutzow, who took part in a previous certificate ceremony.

If you would like to watch the Gautschakt, come to the Gutenbergwiese on 11 June 2025 at 4 pm.
But be careful: if you enter the spell circle, you will inevitably fall into the hands of the packers and end up in the Gautschbottich! Everyone is invited to watch the spectacle from a respectable distance, whether they are studying at the HTWK or dropping by as a guest.

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