Optical Museum Jena Germany

Optical Museum Jena Germany

The Optical Museum Jena, Germany is a scientific-technological museum and one of the most important museums here. It is the only museum of its kind in Germany.
The museum houses optical instruments dating back to 8th century. The Optical Museum Jena throws light on the technical and cultural-historical survey of the development of optical instruments.

The Optical Museum Jena, Germany has merged displays of the evolution of the city Jena to the centre of the optical industries since the mid-19th-century. These are related with the lifeworks of Ernst Abbe, Carl Zeiß and Otto Schott. The Optical Museum Jena exhibits an extremely varied collection of optical devices that braces a time period of over 700 years. The basic focus of the collection mainly consists of a rich collection of different types of eye-glasses and optical visual aids, the advancement of the telescope and the binoculars since the 17th century, instruments used for measuring the earth, highlights of the history of high-end photography equipment, the progression of the microscope from the period of "the Enlightenment" until today and for its use in routine tasks and research work. The Asian eye-glasses will surely amaze you. You may also marvel at binoculars, photo lenses, and microscopes that make up optics and precision-mechanics. The pictures of the "new face of the world," disclosed for the first time by photographs taken from outer space will astonish you. You can also browse through history as you learn how Napoleon was able to observe his battles and what kind of eye-glasses Mörike wore as he wrote poetry. The present showroom covers an area of 1200 m² at three floors:

Ground Floor of the Optical Museum Jena

The ground floor of this famous museum displays the following:

  -   History of glasses
  -   Historical development of microscopy
  -   Telescopes and their masters
  -   History of photography
  -   World of images which consists of camera obscure, peep shows and magic lanterns
  -   Ophthalmological instruments
  -   Carl Zeiß: life and work
  -   Ernst Abbe
  -   Otto Schott

Basement of the Optical Museum Jena

The basement of the Optical museum Jena exhibits the following:

  -   Historical Zeiss-Workshop 1860
  -   Holograph-collection
  -   Colors
  -   Milestones of optics (optical lab for classes)

Upper Floor of the Optical Museum Jena

The upper floor of the optical museum displays planetarium equipment. It also hosts special exhibitions. It has a Lecture hall where different important seminars are held.

Opening hours

The Optical Museum Jena is open from Tuesday to Friday from 10.00 am to 16.30 pm while on Saturday it opens from 11.00 am to 17.00 pm. It is closed on Sundays, Mondays, public holidays and at the 24th and 31st December.

The Optical Museum Jena, Germany is a must go for the tourists. You will get to know many things if you pay a visit here.

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