Jena: German Studies
August 2004
Location:
Jena, Thüringen, Germany
Jena is in the east of Germany, in the former GDR. I spent a week there in August of 2004, attending a German summer school at the Friedrich Schiller Universität.
Jena is a sleepy little academic town. Its main claim to fame are the Carl Zeiss glassworks. But there's also the connection with Schiller who lectured at the university and Goethe, who got Schiller the job.
During my week in Jena, I took a day trip to Weimar.
Weather:
Mostly sunny and hot.
Instructions:
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The so called German Democratic Republic was officially an atheist country. During this time, many churches were deconsecrated and used for other purposes or just plain neglected. This baroque church was consecrated in 1693 and originally called Johann-Georges-Kirche, after the founder, Johann George, the duke of Sachsen-Eisenach. It was renamed to Friedenskirche in 1946.
The Friedenskirche stands in the Johannisfriedhof. Its most famous monument is probably the one for Carl Zeiss. It's in black marble and neither photogenic nor original. I much preferred this grander and more anonymous monument.
This is one of the older headstones in the Johannisfriedhof. Isn't it just lovely in its naive baroque style with the seven angels? I wonder if the family had to pay extra to get that many. And that coy little knee!
Here we are outside the university. The grand statue has the inscription Der Deutschen Burschenschaft, 1883, meaning "To the German student league."
German students had been getting increasingly organised during the nineteenth century. They played a role in the Napoleonic wars of the early nineteenth century (hence the sword), as well as popular uprisings and the early democratic movement. Their motto was Ehre, Freiheit, Vaterland! which can be roughly translated as "Honour, Liberty, Patriotism." The freedom they were most interested in was academic freedom, the freedom to question and criticise without being put in jail.
This is the market square. In the foreground people are enjoying the balmy summer's evening. In the background there's a statue of Johann Friedrich I, who founded the university, and behind that the town hall with its Glockenspiel. The oldest parts of the Rathaus are from the thirteenth century.
In a little alley, leading to the market square, I found this fish. What it means, I do not know. But I thought it was a whimsical little thing.
The first medical garden, Hortus Medicus, in Jena dates back to 1568. It was turned into a regular botanical garden associated with the university. Goethe was heavily involved in improvements to the garden in the late eighteenth century. He also spent significant amounts of time here, pursuing his interest in botany.
A newly planted bog garden shows off some backlit, carnivorous pitcher plants, Sarracenia leucophylla
The very last picture from Jena is also from the botanical garden. It shows a white Cape leadwort, Plumbago auriculata var. alba
