The JenTower is a

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall Tower bl ...

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a p ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

Common names

The tower has been known by many names, official and unofficial. From 1992 until January 2005, the tower was called the ''Intershop Tower'' after its principal tenant, Intershop Communications AG. On November 30, 2004, the building was renamed the JenTower. Until 1995 the building was used by the Friedrich Schiller

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The ...

, and therefore it is still colloquially known as the University Tower. Further unofficial names include

Phallus A phallus is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history a figure with an erect penis is described as ithyphallic. Any object that symbolically—or, more precisel ...

Jenensis,

Cookie A cookie is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chi ...

Roll (Keksrolle), University Tower (Uniturm) or the Henselmann tower, after the architect

Hermann Henselmann Hermann Henselmann (3 February 1905 – 19 January 1995) was a German architect most famous for his buildings constructed in East Germany during the 1950s and 1960s. Early years Henselmann was born in Roßla and studied at the Kunstgewerbeschu ...

. Often it is just called ''the tower''.

Buildings in vicinity

The JenTower stands directly opposite to the so-called Building 15, which was the first German highrise building. Building 15 was erected in to a height of 43 meters in 1915, based on plans by the architect Friedrich Puetzer (1871–1922). Other buildings in the neighborhood are Building 36 (today seat of the

Jenoptik Jenoptik AG is a Jena, Germany-based integrated photonics group. The company is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and is included in the TecDAX stock index. History The group can trace its heritage back to the original Carl Zeiss AG c ...

) and Building 59 (Carl Zeiss Jena Research building), likewise designed by Henselmann.

Construction

The architect of the tower was

, one of the most famous architects of the former

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law ** ...

. The idea of a monolithic tower as an "urban crown" was developed by

Bruno Taut Bruno Julius Florian Taut (4 May 1880 – 24 December 1938) was a renowned German architect, urban planner and author of Prussian Lithuanian heritage ("taut" means "nation" in Lithuanian). He was active during the Weimar period and is kno ...

, who was city architect in

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label= Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Ma ...

in the 1920s. Construction began in June 1969, in a residential and business quarter spared by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The foundation stone was laid on April 30, 1970. Construction took place in sliding scarf building method, and was completed on October 2, 1972 at the original height of 127 meters. The circular tower is a

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

construction with two basements, a 3.20-meter-thick mat foundation and a diameter of 33 meters. In 1968‐1969 there were also state plans to build a recreation center for VEB Zeiss workers next to the tower. This additional building would have displaced the historical Collegium Jenese

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against ...

. These plans were scrapped due to protests of the locals, in particular those of microbiologist Hans Knöll, and due to the poor financial shape of VEB Zeiss at the time. Even the tower itself proved too expensive for VEB Zeiss to maintain, and it was moved into the property of the

after it was completed, despite the University's protestations. In 1999 the building was sold to an investor, who completed a modernization in 2001. At this time, two additional floors and a

UMTS The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Int ...

antenna were added, and the 28th and 29th floors were converted into a restaurant. Including the antenna the tower reaches 149 meters. The building was the second tallest in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...

after the City Hochhaus Leipzig, and after two additional stories were added in 2001, became the tallest in former East Germany. It is currently the 26th-highest in Germany. All 25 that are taller are in former

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20060713013354/http://www.intershop-tower.de/content.php?SID=index&LID=9 * http://www.thehighrisepages.de/hhkartei/jenauni.htm
JenTower
at

CTBUH The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is an international body in the field of tall buildings and sustainable urban design. A non-profit organization based at the Monroe Building in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States ...

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Jena Office buildings completed in 1972 Skyscraper office buildings in Germany

Common names

Buildings in vicinity

Construction

See also

References

External links