Jena is located approx. 230 km north-east of Erlangen. The city has 100,000 inhabitants.
Jena was mentioned in documents as early as the 9th century and was documented as a town in 1236. In the 16th century, Jena was the scene of clashes during the Peasants' War in the course of the Reformation. After 1785, the then already famous university town experienced an academic and cultural boom, which also attracted personalities such as Goethe and Schiller.
Modern Jena is characterized by scientific institutions and ultra-modern industry. Teaching and research are the focus of the university, which was founded in 1558 and today bears the name of Friedrich Schiller, and the Jena University of Applied Sciences with a total of around 26,000 students. Over 30 other institutions, including three Max Planck Institutes and a Fraunhofer Institute alone, complete the academic spectrum.
Jena's industrial tradition began in 1864 when Carl Zeiss opened his first optical workshop, establishing the city's reputation as a center of glass technology, which is also associated with names such as Ernst Abbe and Otto Schott. In the years after 1990, Jena succeeded in promoting its development into a high-tech city by attracting new companies and innovation centers, without neglecting the modernization of its traditional industries. Today, names such as JENOPTIK and SCHOTT JENAer Glas and CARL ZEISS stand for a successful new beginning.
Other special features of Jena include the oldest planetarium in the world, one of the largest collections of spectacles in Europe and the Optical Museum. The charming surroundings of the city with its shell limestone mountains of geological and botanical interest are a tourist destination and local recreation area.
The town twinning, which developed very quickly, especially after the political changeover, and successfully involved the business community, e.g. the Niersberger group of companies, early on, manifests itself in a wide range of different activities at all levels of public life, mostly unspectacular, but constant and effective. The municipal associations for culture and sport have made a special contribution to the success of this partnership. In 2010, the partnership was awarded the 2010 Unity Prize.
