DE-3087392 Jena, City of Light

Jena is the second largest city in Thuringia, Germany, located 70 kilometres (43 miles) SW of Leipzig, 170 km (106 miles) N of Nuremberg and 150 km (93 miles) W of Dresden. It is in an idyllic setting on the banks of the river Saale, surrounded by hills. Together with the neighbouring cities of Erfurt and Weimar, Jena forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants.  Jena, the city itself has a population of nearly 110,000.

Jena is a centre of education and research; the Friedrich Schiller University was founded in 1558. Its heyday was after 1785, as a result of Goethe's patronage. One of the university's most illustrious professors was Friedrich Schiller.  Currently it has 21,000 students and the Ernst-Abbe-Fachhochschule Jena counts another 5,000 students. Furthermore, there are many institutes of the leading German research societies in Jena. Jena is a much sought-after place to study in Germany. Ernst Abbe and Carl Zeiss, mould-breakers in the field of optics, both worked in Jena.

The top left panel of the postcard shows a 500-year-old astronomical clock.  This decorative clock is located in Jena’s historical town hall, reputed to be one of the oldest in Germany.  The clock features the “Schnapphans” or “snatching Hans”.   On the postcard itself the sender has written a good description of the vain attempt of one of the characters on the clock to snatch a golden ball.  The clockwork goes into action every hour on the hour.

On the postcard, the lower left panel shows Jentower.  It is 159 metres tall and has a mirror façade and is Jena’s most distinctive landmark. A Deutschbahn ICE train is also shown crossing the Saale River.

The main panel of this postcard shows the old Burgau Bridge (Alte Burgauer Brücke).  It is also known as the Old Saale Bridge as it passes over the Saale river. The Burgauer Brücke is in Jena-Burgau, which is in the south part of Jena.

The bridge was built on the site of an older wooden bridge. The older bridge was in existence by at least 1484. The wooden bridge was replaced by a stone bridge sometime in the late 1400’s or early 1500’s.  The bridge has been rebuilt or refurbished several times over the centuries. In 1945, during WWII, the bridge was blown up. The bridge is now only used for foot traffic.

 

I received this postcard from Anja (23 April 2014 Postcrossing)