Nature experience region natura jenensis inaugurated

Former Schottplatz site awakens as forum natura nature experience center

At the weekend (30.04.2022), Jena's Lord Mayor Dr. Thomas Nitzsche, city forester Olaf Schubert and Thuringia's Environment Minister Anja Siegesmund opened the newly designed natura jenensis area with the new forum natura nature experience center on Schottplatz in Jena.

Lord Mayor Dr. Thomas Nitzsche said:

Da Naturerlebniszentrum will be an attraction and excursion destination for Jena residents as well as guests from far beyond the region. I would especially like to thank the Stadtforst team from Kommunalservice Jena for their commitment, both during construction and in the future in the area of environmental education directly on Schottplatz. And I look forward to many visitors discovering and experiencing the unique interplay between nature and high-tech.

Thuringia's Environment Minister Anja Siegesmund said:

The Schottplatz is awakening from its slumber. The years of work by many committed people here have paid off: from today, all those interested in nature will find a new place to go: anyone who experiences intact nature also wants to protect it. The Schottplatz is a stepping stone from the city to nature.

In September 2019, Siegesmund handed over the cheque for 1.88 million euros for the construction of a nature experience center on the site of Otto Schott Square, thus giving the go-ahead for a project close to Jena's heart - a project in the heart of Thuringia. In January 2020, Economics Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee presented funding for the nature trails of the natura jenensis nature experience region.

forum natura

The heart of natura jenensis is the forum natura nature experience center on the site of the former Schottplatz. In 1912, 110 years ago, Otto Schott acquired the site for social and cultural projects of the Schott factory - a novelty at the time! In the following decades, the site quickly developed into a socio-cultural center of Jena. The renovated Waldvilla, the core of forum natura, will in future act as a platform for environmental education and education for sustainable development in an entire region and bring together various stakeholders. In addition to the municipal forestry department of Kommunalservice Jena, the Schutzgemeinschaft Deutscher Wald and the Natura2000-Station Mittlere Saale are also represented here.

Facts about forum natura

• Environmental education center surrounded by seven nature reserves in the middle of the European protected area "Natura 2000".
• Curriculum-based educational programs for school classes by qualified staff
• Offers for daycare centers, adult education and team building
• Cost of the renovation: 2.6 million euros
• Realization: Eigenbetrieb Kommunalservice Jena
• Funding on the initiative of the Minister of the Environment from funds of the party and mass organizations of the former GDR (PMO funds): 1.88 million euros

natura jenensis

The symbiosis of nature and high-tech is part of Jena and is uniquely reflected in natura jenensis. natura jenensis combines analog and digital worlds to bring history to life and immerse visitors in times long past, which is particularly evident in the many digital stations with augmented reality objects, for example. Not only the Clever Ux, but also Napoleon and Emperor Otto III speak to visitors in life-size, and wild animals such as foxes, lynxes, wild boars and dinosaurs can be admired up close. Another highlight of the Natura Jenensis app are the 360° panoramas. They provide a "panoramic view" of times long past. What did it look like in the Triassic or Ice Age? Or how have humans changed the local mountain over the last 1000 years? When people's imagination reaches its limits, such digital panoramas can broaden horizons and thus provide a change of perspective.

Facts about natura jenensis

• 91 km SaaleHorizontale quality hiking trail in nine stages; runs through the most beautiful natural regions around Jena, with public transport connections in some stages
• Four educational trails with around 80 digital and analog stations; around 50 augmented reality elements, 360° panoramas and 3D animations, allowing you to observe shy animals, listen to Napoleon and marvel at the former castles of the Hausberg, for example
• The app can also be used to call up in-depth knowledge, so that even particularly inquisitive foxes get their money's worth
• the mascot Clever Ux accompanies visitors via audio guide
• a dedicated Natura Jenensiswebsite and an app (natura jenensis) with four individual app packages to complement the nature experience in future
• 20 well-signposted new circular trails will be added to natura jenensis in the future, offering the option of classic and individual hiking or using them as jogging trails
• In future, natura jenensis will have a uniform design with its own logo and a high recognition value
• The project was funded with 536,800 euros from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) by the Ministry of Economic Affairs
• Realization: Kommunalservice Jena together with the company rooom, technical implementation on site by the company DWS from Mattstedt