The University of Erfurt (German: Universität Erfurt) is a public university located in Erfurt, Germany. Originally founded in 1379, the university was closed in 1816 for the next 177 years. The university was re-established in 1994, three years after Thuringia reunified with the Federal Republic. The University of Erfurt was founded in 1379 as the third university in the territory which is now Germany; for some time, it was the largest university in the country. When the town of Erfurt became part of Prussia in 1816, the government closed the university after its more than 400 years of operation. In December 1993, the Landtag of Thuringia voted to re-establish the university. The university was officially re-founded on January 1, 1994. Lectures began in the winter term from 1999 to 2000. Shortly afterwards, the rector who had overseen the founding, Peter Glotz, a politician in the SPD party, left the university. The position was taken over by Wolfgang Bergsdorf, a friend of Bernhard Vogel, Thuringia's Minister-president. In 2001, the Erfurt Teachers' Training College (Pädagogische Hochschule Erfurt), founded in 1953, became part of the university.