Public guided tour
Jena – between history and high-tech
Goethe, Schiller, Luther, Abbe, Zeiss – what would Jena be without the many historical figures who lived and worked here? Jena University, founded in 1558, was often at the heart of things. Many important people studied and worked here. Friedrich Schiller taught at the university, and it’s also where his friend and fellow writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe indulged his interest in the natural sciences. Physicist Ernst Abbe and businessman Carl Zeiss developed pioneering products in the field of optics here. Jena glass, developed by Otto Schott in 1887, grew into a brand known around the world.
Our general tour of Jena, the city of light, is the perfect way to see several places of interest in one go. It includes the Collegium Jenense, where the university was founded, as well as St John’s Gate and the Pulverturm tower, the market square with the historical town hall, St Michael’s Church, and many other significant locations and buildings.