JenTower
About This Site
The JenTower is a 160-metre round tower built for the Zeiss combine in 1972, its outline drawn as a telescope, still the tallest office building in the former East Germany and open to the public on its viewing platform.
A telescope for a skyline, 1972
The East German architect Hermann Henselmann designed and built the round tower in 1972 for the Carl-Zeiss-Kombinat, before the Friedrich Schiller University took it over; he shaped it deliberately as a telescope, the instrument the Zeiss works were built to make. With its spire the tower reaches 159.6 metres, which still makes it the tallest office building in the states of the former East Germany.[1]
The view from the top
The observation platform gives a panorama over Jena and the loops of the Saale valley below, with a hotel and a restaurant in the floors beneath it. It is open to the public daily.
Questions visitors ask
- What is the JenTower?
- The JenTower is a 160-metre round tower built in 1972 for the Zeiss combine, its outline shaped as a telescope, and still the tallest office building in the former East Germany.[1]
- Can I visit the JenTower's viewing platform?
- Yes. The observation platform is open daily from 10:00 to 22:00, with admission of €6.00 per person, or €4.00 per person for groups of 15 or more.
- Who built the JenTower and why is it shaped like a telescope?
- The East German architect Hermann Henselmann designed and built it in 1972 for the Carl-Zeiss-Kombinat, before the Friedrich Schiller University took it over; he shaped it deliberately as a telescope, the instrument the Zeiss works were built to make.
Sources (1)
- Geschichte — JenTower, retrieved 30 August 2026
Visit Information
€6.00 per person; €4.00 per person for groups of 15 or more
Daily 10:00–22:00
Leutragraben 1, 07743 Jena
In the history of Jena
Historic sites
Löbstedter Straße 67, 07749 Jena
During the Thüringentag of 2006 the Imaginata ran its falling-ball experiment in the tower's lift shaft, more than 100 metres high, to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth.
Historical periods
Built in 1972 by the East German architect Hermann Henselmann for the Zeiss combine, and the tallest office building the former East Germany left standing.
For forty-five years Weimar was a provincial town that the state could not afford to neglect, because the classics it kept were the pedigree East Germany wanted for itself.
Around Weimar
19 km East
The city's viewpoint, 160 metres up, shaped as a telescope for the optics works it was first built for.