Jena (dpa/th) - The federal government is providing two million euros from an urban development program for the modernization of the German Optical Museum in Jena. According to the Federal Building Ministry, the museum is one of 18 national urban development projects nationwide that will benefit from federal funding this year. The exhibition is currently being redesigned into an interactive optics world of experience that is intended to combine industrial history, science and business. In addition, the historic building, once an optician's school, is to be supplemented by a new building. Jena is the historic center of the optical industry in Germany. In 1846, the mechanic and entrepreneur Carl Zeiss founded a workshop for precision mechanics and optics here.
According to museum director Timo Mappes, the total cost of the modernization is estimated at 20 million euros. The Carl Zeiss Foundation, the Ernst Abbe Foundation and the University of Jena are contributing to the financing. The state is contributing almost 9 million euros to the exhibition. In view of the current increase in construction costs, the federal funds are a "very important help", said Mappes on Friday.
After the reopening, which he says is expected to take place in 2025, the museum will also be used as a training center for prospective physics teachers.
The Optical Museum is the only institution in Thuringia that was classified by the federal government as a national urban development project in 2022. The federal government is providing 75 million euros for the program this year. Thuringia's CDU member of the Bundestag, Christian Hirte, called on Friday for urban development funding to continue at this high level.
