To mark the 200th birthday of Carl Zeiss this year, it is planned to create a “German Optical Museum” in Jena in order to showcase the importance of Carl Zeiss and the history of optics. To this end, the existing Optical Museum in Jena will undergo a thoroughgoing transformation to become the “German Optical Museum”, establishing it as a leading museum on the national and international museum scene. “The existing museum already attracts many interested visitors from the whole world who come to experience the comprehensive collection. A new concept would enable us to position ourselves even more successfully at international level,” says Rolf Ferdinand Schmalbrock, Managing Director of the Ernst Abbe Foundation. A new foundation has been set up for the specific purpose of moving the project forward. (gro)