In a nationwide comparison, Jena impresses with a low average age. Above all, the more than 23,000 students keep the city young. In the numerous cafés, restaurants and quaint pubs in the lovingly preserved old town, there is a lively student life. The Friedrich Schiller University in Jena is one of the oldest universities in Germany (founded in 1558). Important personalities have taught in Jena. In the second half of the 18th century, the Alma Mater Jenensis gained its international appeal. This was particularly due to Goethe's work as a minister in ducal service. As a result of his suggestions, many scientific institutions were established, e.g. the Botanical Garden, the Mineralogical Collection and the University Library.

Goethe and Schiller met in Jena and from then on cultivated their intensive friendship. Around 1800, Jena had an outstanding cultural charisma. The interaction of poetry, philosophy, art and natural science established a new aesthetic that reaches into the present day. The "Romantikerhaus", the former home of the philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte, is now home to the world's only museum on early literary romanticism, which included the Schlegel brothers, Friedrich Schelling and, for a time, Novalis.

Jena's industrial boom began in the 19th century. Carl Zeiss opened his first optical workshop in 1846. The dream team Zeiss, Abbe and Schott helped the city to world fame with its spectacular developments in optics and microscopy. Today, Jena has more than 110,000 inhabitants. The Friedrich Schiller University Jena, the Ernst Abbe University, local industrial and high-tech companies as well as first-class research institutions determine the development of the city into a center of high technology.