Jena is a town in central Germany on the River Saale. With a population of 102,442 (as of 31 December 2004) it is the third biggest town in the federal state of Thuringia.

History

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Jena was first mentioned in 1236 and developed as a market town up until the foundation of the university in 1558.

On 14 October 1806 Napoleon fought and defeated the Prussian army here in the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt.

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.

Economy

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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 cities economy diversifies into bioinformatics, biotechnology, software and photonics. The metropolitan area of Jena is among Germany's 50 fastest growing regions.

Buildings

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• Jen-Tower

Colleges, Universities and Research Institutes

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• The Friedrich Schiller University of Jena was founded in 1558 as the "Collegium Jenense".
• In 1794 the poets Goethe and Schiller met at the university and established a long lasting friendship.
• The University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule Jena) was founded in 1990.
• The Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology is an important research center and offers a Ph.D. program.
• The Max Planck Institute for Economics
• The Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
• The Institute for Physical High Technology
• INNOVENT - one of the biggest private research centers in Germany
• The Leibniz Institute for Age Research
• The Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology
• Friedrich-Löffler-Institute for Infectuous Disease Control
• The Jena Center for Bioinformatics

Museums

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• Optical Museum Jena - history of optical instruments
• Schott GlassMuseum - production and usage of glass
• townmuseum Göhre - history of the town
• Botanical Garden
• Phyletical Museum - biology
• Romanticism House - literary
• Memorial to Goethe - literary

Culture

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The Jenaer Philharmonie is the largest independent symphony orchestra in Thuringia.

Food and drink

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Köstritzer is the maker of the favorite local beer. They make a dark Schwarzbier that is quite popular. A favorite local food is a kind of long sausage, "bratwurst", which is perhaps 30 cm in length and is eaten with brown mustard in a crusty baguette-style bun that is perhaps 8 to 10 cm long, leaving 10 cm or more of sausage hanging from each end, which is quite a sight.

Famous residents

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• Andy Glandt (banjo player)
• Friedrich Hegel
• Karl Marx
• Bernhard, Prince of the Netherlands (deceased 2004)
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• Friedrich Schiller
• Friedrich August Froebel, inventor of the kindergarten
• Ernst Haeckel, German evolutionary biologist/zoologist.
• Friedrich Hölderlin
• Philipp Melanchthon, theologist
• Martin Luther
• Otto Schott, inventor of fireproof glass
• Kurt Tucholsky, writer
• Johannes R. Becher, german-american composer
• Carl Zeiss, founder of the Zeiss company
• Walter Eucken, founder of neoliberal economic theory

External links

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• Official Homepage of Jena (German)
• Fachhochschule Jena
• Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena
• Events, Locations & Community for Jena (German)
• Maps

Jena | Cities in Thuringia

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