What is the Schnapphans?

A bust of painted oak carved around 1500 in the astronomical clock of Jena's Rathaus tower; at every stroke of the full hour it snaps in vain at a golden ball held out by a pilgrim, while an angel rings a bell. It is one of the Seven Wonders of Jena.

How old is Jena's Rathaus?

It is first recorded in the 1360s and is one of the oldest surviving town halls in Germany; it was rebuilt around 1377, and its baroque tower dates from 1755.

Johann Friedrich I of Saxony, the Magnanimous, who had the Hohe Schule founded in Jena, from which the university grew in 1558. His statue by Friedrich Drake has stood on the Markt since 1858; he spent his last years in Weimar and is buried in the Stadtkirche there.

What is in the Stadtmuseum on the Markt?

Jena's history from the first mention to the nineteenth century, with highlights such as a sixteenth-century chalice, a Pietà from the Parler workshop and the first black-red-gold flag, and exhibitions on Zeiss, Abbe and Schott and on Napoleon and 1806.

When is the market held?

The weekly market is held four days a week, and the square also hosts the pottery market, the spring market and the Christmas market.

Square

Markt (Market Square)

Markt, 07743 Jena

Jena's market square under a tree in full leaf: wooden stalls and white pointed tents, a painted maypole hung with guild signs, and behind them the white Rathaus tower with a clock and a lantern between two steep roofs — The Markt with market stalls and the Rathaus tower, September 2026.(Weimar Web)

A grey late-Gothic house with red-framed curtain-arch windows and a pointed-arch doorway, the lettering Stadtmuseum and Kunstsammlung on its front, café tables under a chestnut tree in front and a narrow lane beside it — The Göhre on the north side of the Markt, home of the Stadtmuseum Jena.(Weimar Web)

About This Site

Jena's market square is a closed square of 5,000 square metres at the heart of the old town, and its outline has never changed.^[1] On its south-west side stands one of the oldest surviving town halls in Germany, first recorded in the 1360s, with a baroque half-timbered tower and steep hipped roofs; on the hour its fifteenth-century clock sets the Schnapphans snapping at a golden ball, one of the Seven Wonders of Jena.^[2] In the middle stands the Hanfried, the monument to Johann Friedrich I, who founded the Hohe Schule from which Jena's university grew, and who spent his last years in Weimar.^[3] On the north side the late-Gothic Göhre holds the Stadtmuseum, with the city's story from the first mention to the Zeiss era, and four days a week the weekly market fills the square with regional food.^[4]^[1]

A market town with its own coinage, 1175–1400

Around 1175/80 the market town of Jena gained the right to mint coins. The square covers 5,000 square metres and is closed on all sides, and its outline has stayed the same through its whole history. The town hall on the Markt appears in the documents from the 1360s, and from the end of the fourteenth century the Stadtkirche rose some 50 metres to the north.^[1]

The Rathaus: a market hall and a wedding room, c. 1377–1968

The two-storey double house with its steep hipped roofs is first recorded in the 1360s, which makes it one of the oldest surviving town halls in Germany. After a rebuilding around 1377 that took in older buildings, bakers, butchers and traders sold their goods in the four-aisled hall on the ground floor. Upstairs lies the Rathausdiele, whose wooden ceiling has been painted several times over the centuries; the painting seen today dates from the early twentieth century. The restored mayor's parlour, a wooden room with marbled paintwork and a fine door of 1683, has served as the wedding room since 1968.^[2]

The tower and the Schnapphans, c. 1500–1755

The baroque, eight-sided tower between the steep roofs was built in 1755, and it carries the town hall's best-known treasure, an ornate astronomical clock of the fifteenth century. Its central figure is the Schnapphans, a bust of painted oak carved around 1500, which at every stroke of the full hour snaps in vain at a golden ball. When the head, also called Hans von Jhene, moved into the tower it gained its present companions: a pilgrim holding out the ball, and an angel ringing a small bell. The Schnapphans counts as one of the Seven Wonders of Jena.^[2]

The Hanfried, 1548–1858

The monument in the middle of the square shows Johann Friedrich I of Saxony, the Magnanimous, whom Jena calls the Hanfried. As leader of the Schmalkaldic League he stood at the head of the Protestants, and while he was the emperor's prisoner after the lost war of 1547 he had the Hohe Schule founded in Jena to replace the lost university of Wittenberg; it became the University of Jena in 1558, after his death. Freed in 1552, he spent his last years in Weimar and lies beside his wife Sibylle in the Stadtkirche there. Friedrich Drake's statue was set up in 1858 for the university's three-hundredth anniversary.^[3]

The Göhre and the Stadtmuseum, 13th century–1988

The house on the north side of the Markt is the only half-timbered building still visible in Jena's once-walled core. Its foundation walls go back to the thirteenth century; in 1557, just as the university was being founded, it was largely rebuilt with a half-timbered upper storey and a steep roof, and its large curtain-arch windows date from that time. For centuries it was the home of the market millers, and it takes its name from Paul Göhre, who bought it in 1893 and ran a wine trade and a well-known wine restaurant here. The half-timbering, long plastered over, was uncovered again when the house became the Stadtmuseum, which reopened here in 1988; the museum itself had been founded in 1901 by the art historian Paul Weber.^[4]

Inside the museum: from the first mention to Zeiss

Permanent and changing exhibitions show the many sides of Jena's history. Among the highlights are a precious communion chalice of the sixteenth century, a Pietà from the Parler workshop and the first black-red-gold flag, whose colours became the symbol of the democratic constitutional movement in Germany; the fathers of Jena's industry, Carl Zeiss, Ernst Abbe and Otto Schott, have their place, and a permanent exhibition is devoted to Napoleon and the battle of 1806.^[5] A timeline in the stairwell leads through four exhibition floors from prehistory and the first mention around 830/850 to 1850, and the staircase opens into the neo-Gothic Neue Göhre next door, which houses the exhibitions of the Kunstsammlung Jena.^[6]

Markets on the square, today

Four days a week the weekly market fills the Markt with regional food, and the square also hosts the pottery market, the spring market and the Christmas market every year.^[1]

Questions visitors ask

What is the Schnapphans?: A bust of painted oak carved around 1500 in the astronomical clock of Jena's Rathaus tower; at every stroke of the full hour it snaps in vain at a golden ball held out by a pilgrim, while an angel rings a bell. It is one of the Seven Wonders of Jena.^[2]
How old is Jena's Rathaus?: It is first recorded in the 1360s and is one of the oldest surviving town halls in Germany; it was rebuilt around 1377, and its baroque tower dates from 1755.^[2]
Who is the Hanfried?: Johann Friedrich I of Saxony, the Magnanimous, who had the Hohe Schule founded in Jena, from which the university grew in 1558. His statue by Friedrich Drake has stood on the Markt since 1858; he spent his last years in Weimar and is buried in the Stadtkirche there.^[3]
What is in the Stadtmuseum on the Markt?: Jena's history from the first mention to the nineteenth century, with highlights such as a sixteenth-century chalice, a Pietà from the Parler workshop and the first black-red-gold flag, and exhibitions on Zeiss, Abbe and Schott and on Napoleon and 1806.^[5]
When is the market held?: The weekly market is held four days a week, and the square also hosts the pottery market, the spring market and the Christmas market.^[1]

Connected Historical Figures

Johann Friedrich I1503–1554

duke • elector

His statue, the Hanfried, has stood in the middle of the square since 1858, for the three-hundredth anniversary of the university he founded as the Hohe Schule.