Jena is a university city on the Saale River in east-central Germany and, together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia, with approximately 500,000 inhabitants. It is an educational and research centre, and home to the Friedrich Schiller University founded in 1558, as well as the Ernst-Abbe-Fachhochschule, created in 1991 and one of the first institutions of its kind in the newly established federal states of Germany.

Jena is a city with a strong cultural and historical heritage. It was home to philosopher and historian Friedrich Schiller, Ernst Haeckel and many well-known scientists. It is home to various museums including the Optical Museum showcasing the history of optical instruments like glasses, microscopes, cameras and telescopes and the Phyletisches Museum which hosts a natural history exhibition with a focus on evolution and fossils.It also includes the stunning Museum 1806 in Jena-Cospeda, which displays detailed information of the 1806 Napoleonic battles. Jeda’s verdant Botanischer Garten, meaning botanic garden, at Fürstengraben is one of Germany’s oldest, established in 1794, and hosting 12,000 plants from all over the world. Jena has many Gothic monuments and churches including St. Michael, one of the biggest Gothic monuments in Thuringia built between 1422 and 1557, which has a bronze slab of Martin Luther's tomb. Besides its cultural offerings, Jena is located in the valley of Saale and surrounded by picturesque limestone mountains and well-maintained hiking trails. Many have restaurants at the top of each route that offer a glorious view over the city.

Jena’s closest airport is Halle-Leipzig by a 1.5 hours InterCity Express train journey. Jena is near to the Hermsdorfer Kreuz where the A9 from Berlin to Munich and the A4 from Frankfurt to Dresden cross. There are plentiful buses and streetcars available, and also most destinations can be reached by foot.

Jena was awarded the title "Stadt der Wissenschaft" City of Science by the German science association Stifterverbandfür die Deutsche Wissenschaft. Besides its academic interests, Jena is also a manufacturing city, specialising in photographic equipment precision machinery and optics.