Down into the cellar and into Jena’s History

It is possible to visit the Fürstenkeller under the ThULB during the Monument Da
It is possible to visit the Fürstenkeller under the ThULB during the Monument Day. Image: Jens Meyer (University of Jena)
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The Friedrich Schiller University is also taking part in the Open Monument Day in Jena on Saturday, 8 September. It will be opening four buildings to the interested public, giving them an insight into the history of the city and the university.

It will also be going underground - which is not only recommended due to the current heat - into the Fürstenkeller under the Thuringian University and State Library (ThULB). During one-hour guided tours at 10am, 11am, 12pm and 1pm, it is possible to experience this examination certificate of 16th century craftsmanship and technical prowess. Built in 1532 by Elector Johann Friedrich I and completed by 1536, the building is one of the largest vaulted cellars in Germany with a floor area of around 600 square metres and contained state-of-the-art technology of the time with drainage systems and water channels as well as a water supply from a tapped spring. The Fürstenkeller should not just be an occasionally open monument, but should also be converted into a current use: It would be conceivable, for example, to offer a cool place in the overheated city centre and to feature an art installation - the Fürstenkeller as a time window for the city’s history. You can also find out more about this during the guided tours.

Kollegienhof: where the university was founded

Jena’s history is inextricably linked to the university, which is why its founding site, the Kollegienhof, plays a special role. On Sunday at 2 p.m., a guided tour will set off on an exciting search for clues. Founded at the end of the 13 century as a Dominican monastery in the historic city centre, the ensemble of buildings became the founding site of the High School after the monastery was abandoned and was elevated to university status in 1558. The eventful history of the Collegium Jenense, large parts of which were destroyed in a bombing raid in March 1945, and the surviving building stock are currently being researched and analysed on an interdisciplinary basis.

Where Schiller and Goethe lived and worked in Jena

Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang Goethe may not share a monument in Jena, but they had closer contact on the Saale than in any other place. No wonder that they left behind numerous traces, which culminate in two buildings in Jena: Schiller’s Garden House and the newly renovated Inspector’s House in the Botanical Garden, where the new Goethe Laboratory has just been opened.

Schiller’s Garden House is open on Monument Day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with free admission. At 10.30, 11.30, 13.00 and 14.00 there will be half-hour guided tours of the house and garden - the place where Schiller and his family lived from 1797. Parts of "Wallenstein", "Maria Stuart" and the famous ballads for the Musenalmanach were written in this little paradise on the Leutra.

Today’s botanical garden was created in 1794 at the instigation of the botany professor A. J. G. C. Batsch and Goethe. A half-timbered gardener’s house was built here in 1681 over a natural stone basement or plinth, which later served as the director’s residence. Goethe also lived in it for more than 300 days between 1817 and 1822 during his stays in Jena. After extensive renovation work, the house was reopened this year with a new exhibition and a new layout as the Goethe Laboratory.
The guided tours on Monument Day at 10 am, 12 am and 2 pm are already in high demand. If they are fully booked, those interested can explore the building and exhibition during the usual opening hours - Wednesday - Sunday from 11 am - 5 pm.

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