This handsome fachwerk townhouse at the northern end of the market square dates in part to the 13th century. It now houses the Stadtmuseum (city museum) where you can learn how Jena evolved into a centre of philosophy and science and also the city's Kunstsammlung (art collection) with changing exhibitions on themes such as Marx's 200th birthday, augmenting a permanent collection of mostly 20th-century works.
Stadtmuseum & Kunstsammlung Jena
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
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This large medieval castle on the hill above town is one of Freyburg’s highlights. It houses an excellent museum that illuminates various aspects of…
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Erfurt's cathedral, where Martin Luther was ordained a priest, grew over the centuries from a simple 8th-century chapel into the stately Gothic pile of…
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This is the world's leading museum on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Germany's literary colossus. It incorporates his home of 50 years, gifted by Duke Carl…
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Built in 1765 and developed by the younger brother of Duke Carl August, this Unesco-listed country house flowered under the ownership of Duchess Anna…
Nearby attractions
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This late-Gothic church, one of the largest in Thuringia, is famous for having Martin Luther’s original bronze gravestone, modelled on a portrait by Lucas…
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One of the oldest maintained town halls in Germany, Jena’s Rathaus (1377) is graced with an astronomical clock in its baroque tower. Every hour, on the…
0.15 MILES
Built in 1972, but deceptively modern in appearance, the 128m-tall cylindrical JenTower was intended to be a Zeiss research facility, but proved…
0.16 MILES
Goethe himself planted the ginkgo tree in these wonderful botanic gardens, which have grown since their inception in 1794 to a collection of more than 12…
5. Universität Jena – Collegium Jenense
0.16 MILES
Jena’s university faculties are spread throughout town, but this was where the university was founded as Collegium Jenense in 1548, in a former Dominican…
0.23 MILES
The world’s oldest public planetarium (1926) has a state-of-the-art dome projection system, making it a heavenly setting for cosmic laser shows paying…
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Goethe is credited with recruiting Schiller to Jena University in 1789. The poet, playwright and philosopher enjoyed Jena so much that he stayed for 10…
0.39 MILES
Carl Zeiss began building rudimentary microscopes in 1846 and, with Ernst Abbe’s help, developed the first scientific microscope in 1857. Together with…