Jena

Town in the Land (administrative region) of Thuringia, Germany, southeast of Weimar; population (2005 est) 102,500. It is noted for its precision engineering; the Zeiss firm have manufactured optical instruments since 1846. French emperor Napoleon defeated the Prussians here in 1806, and the philosophers Schiller and Hegel taught at the Friedrich Schiller University, which dates from 1558.

The market area was the only part of the old town to escape destruction by Allied bombing during World War II. It has a Late Gothic Rathaus (town hall), with two hipped roofs and a clock-tower featuring mechanical figures on the clock face. The Zeiss Planetarium, built originally in 1926, was renovated in 1983. Other places of interest include the Optical Museum (1965); the Romantiker Haus, a museum of the early Romantic period in Germany; and an impressive botanical garden.