Jena

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For other uses, see Jena (disambiguation).
Jena
Jena Market Square
Jena Market Square
Coat of arms Location
Coat of arms of Jena
Jena (Germany)
Jena
Administration
Country Flag of Germany Germany
State Thuringia
District Urban district
Lord Mayor Albrecht Schröter (SPD)
Basic statistics
Area 114 km² (44 sq mi)
Elevation 155 m  (509 ft)
Population  102,494  (31/12/2006)[1]
 - Density 899 /km² (2,329 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate J
Postal codes 07701–07751
Area code 03641
Website www.jena.de

Coordinates: 50°55′38″N 11°35′10″E / 50.92722, 11.58611

Jena (pronunciation IPA: [ˈjeːna]) is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. With a population of 102,494, it is the second largest city in the federal state of Thüringen (Thuringia), after Erfurt.

Contents

[edit] History

Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document. In the 11th century it was a possession of the lords of Lobdeburg, but in the following century it developed into an independent market town with laws and magistrates of its own. Economy was based mainly on wine production. In 1286 the Dominicans were established in the city, followed by the Cistercians in 1301.

The margraves of Meißen imposed their authority over Jena in 1331. From 1423 it belonged to Electoral Saxony of the Housen of Wettin, who had inherited Meißen, remaining with it also after the division of their lands in 1485.

The Protestant Reformation was brought into the city in 1523. In the following years the Dominican and the Carmelite convents were attacked by the townsmen. In 1548, the university was founded by elector John Frederick the Magnanimous.

For a short period (1670-1690), Jena was the capital of an independent dukedom (Saxe-Jena). In 1692 it was annexed to Saxe-Eisenach and in 1741 to the Duchy (later Grand Duchy) of Saxe-Weimar, to which it belonged until 1918.

At the end of the 18th century the university became the largest and most famous within the german states, and made Jena the center of idealistic philosophy (with professors like Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Schiller and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling) and of the early romanticism (with poets like Novalis, the brothers Schlegel and Ludwig Tieck).

On 14 October 1806, Napoleon fought and defeated the Prussian army here in the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt. Resistance against the French occupation was strong, especially among the town students, many of whom fought in the Lützow Free Corps in 1813. Two years later the Urburschenschaft fraternity was founded in the city.

At the end of the 19th century, with the building of the railway-line Saalbahn (along the river Saale), Jena became a center for precision machinery, optics and glass making, with the formation of the world famous companies Carl Zeiss Jena and Schott Jenaer Glaswerk, by Carl Zeiss, Ernst Abbe and Otto Schott.

In 1945, towards the end of World War II, Jena was heavily bombed by the American and British Allies. 153 people were killed and most of the medieval town centre was destroyed (though restored after the end of the war).

Part of the State of Thuringia from its foundation in 1920 on, it was incorporated into the German Democratic Republic in 1949 and its district of Gera in 1952. Since 1990, the city of Jena has been a part of the Free State of Thuringia in the united Federal Republic of Germany.


[edit] Economy

Today Jena is a manufacturing city, specializing in precision machinery, pharmaceuticals, optics and photographic equipment, and is home to the famous Zeiss optics plant. In 1926, the world's first modern planetarium was built by the Zeiss company in the Damenviertel district of the town.

Today the city's economy diversifies into bioinformatics, biotechnology, software and photonics. The metropolitan area of Jena is among Germany's 50 fastest growing regions, with many internationally renowned research institutes and companies, a comparatively low unemployment, and a very young population structure. Jena was awarded with the title "Stadt der Wissenschaft" (city of science) by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wirtschaft, the German business association, in 2008.

The Jen-Tower.
The Jen-Tower.
view over the city center of Jena
view over the city center of Jena
View from the Jen-Tower at night: the domed building was part of the former Carl-Zeiss works, now used by the University of Jena
View from the Jen-Tower at night: the domed building was part of the former Carl-Zeiss works, now used by the University of Jena
Johannis Strasse, looking towards Eichplatz. Jena
Johannis Strasse, looking towards Eichplatz. Jena

[edit] Main sights

  • The 13th century Town Hall ("Rathaus"). It has astronomic clock featuring the "Snatching Hans" ("Schnapphans").
  • The Gothic St. Michael's Church ("Michaelskirche", 1506). It has a bronze slab of Martin Luther's tomb
  • Monument to John Frederick the Magnanimous (1905-08), in the Market Square
  • The Old Castle and numerous towers from the medieval fortifications, including the Powder Tower (13th-14th centuries)
  • House of Friedrich Schiller and his Wedding Church.
  • The Botanical Garden, founded in 1580, the second oldest botanical garden in Germany
  • Jen-Tower, a research edifice built in GDR times. There is a restaurant and viewing platform at the 27th floor.

In the neighbourhood are the Dornburg Castles and the Kapellendorf Moated Castle.

[edit] Public transport

  • The city is served by an extensive network of buses and trams run by the "Jenah" organization (a pun on Jena and Nahverkehr, German for public transport).
  • busses of the JES Verkehrsgesellschaft connect Jena with cities and villages in the region
  • The high-speed railway line from Berlin to München calls at the Jena-Paradies station just to the east of the city centre; trains from Erfurt and further west arrive at the Westbahnhof just west of the city centre.
  • The nearest airports to Jena are Leipzig-Altenburg Airport and Erfurt Airport. However international visitors normally arrive at Frankfurt, Berlin or Munich airports, from all of which there are convenient train connections to Jena.

[edit] Colleges, universities and research institutes

[edit] Museums

  • Optical Museum Jena - history of optical instruments
  • Schott GlassMuseum - production and usage of glass
  • Citymuseum Göhre - urban history of Jena
  • Botanical Garden
  • Phyletical Museum - biology
  • Romanticism House - literary
  • Memorial to Goethe - literary
  • Oriental Coin Cabinet Jena - Oriental history, numismatics
  • Schott Villa - history of the Jena glassworks and of Otto Schott and his family

[edit] Culture

The Botanical Garden of Jena
The Botanical Garden of Jena
  • The Jenaer Philharmonie is the largest independent symphony orchestra in Thuringia.
  • In the Novel 1632 and several other works in the best-selling fiction 1632 series, Jena and the University of Jena, located in the same region as the displaced town (in both time and space) of Grantville, WV, play a prominent role Jena becomes part of the New United States founded by the Americans of Grantville introducing modern thought a political theory into the middle of the Thirty Years' War, and the University the heart of their attempt to introduce modern medical knowledge and practices into the plague-ridden Germany.
  • Kulturarena: annual music festival held in front of the theatre

[edit] Famous citizens

[edit] Sister cities

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Thüringer Landesamt für Statistik. Population of Thuringia by district. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
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