The Beutenberg Campus in Jena is known as the largest and internationally important research center in Thuringia. As the campus grounds are designed to be open and freely accessible, there are good opportunities for those interested to visit and take a tour. In addition to the architecturally interesting institute buildings, various artistic and cultural-historical objects can also be discovered. The site plan and the following explanations of 12 stations are intended to provide some suggestions and information.

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Since July 2010, the "Beutenberg Campus" bus stop building has been decorated with an eye-catching graffiti painting by artist Michael Drosdek (Farbgefühl) with references to the biological work and research topics of the Beutenberg Campus. As a result, this spot below the BioInstrument Center with the colourful ants wandering on a leaf forms a kind of colourful and striking entrance gate for the science campus and its motto ‘Life Science meets Physics’.

An abstract chrome-plated stainless steel sculpture on a base of polished black granite stands at the entrance road to the northern campus area, somewhat squeezed between the road and the sidewalk.

This sculpture was produced on the occasion of an anniversary of the company ZI Jena GmbH (precision sheet metal technology) and was dedicated to the Beutenberg Campus as a gift in 2002. The idea and design can be traced back to Prof. Hans Theo Baumann, Schopfheim. Prof. Baumann (* 1924 in Basel; † 2016 in Schopfheim) was a successful German designer, mainly for porcelain, ceramics and glass, but also created several sculptures. This work of art, like the artist's other sculptures, has no name. It symbolizes a rising seed and thus refers to the developments of the time:

ZI GmbH was created in 1991 through the spin-off of the precision sheet metal workshop from the former Carl Zeiss Jena combine. Durlum Leuchten GmbH from Schopfheim in Baden-Württemberg, the artist's home town, had taken on 38 employees when the company was spun off in Jena. Baumann had designed several sculptures in various sizes, all of which were produced by ZI GmbH in Jena. In this respect, the sculpture, like ZI GmbH itself, is a joint East-West project.

The location of the sculpture was certainly not random chosen. A "seed" was also sown on the Beutenberg Campus in the early 2000s. Today, the Beutenberg Campus is an internationally renowned science and innovation campus.

A sgraffito (scratched plaster) on the wall façade at the entrance to the main building of today's Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute (Leibniz-HKI) dates back to the early days of campus development. It was designed in 1956 by Kurt Hanf, Hans Lasko and Ernemann Sander and - in keeping with the aims of the institute - is intended to depict mankind's battle with disease (symbolised here as a dragon). The picture makes direct reference to the patron saint of Jena's city church, St Michael, who is said to have defeated the devil in the form of a dragon.

At the top right of the dragon slayer depiction is a clock under which a moving sphere shows the phases of the moon. This would need to be readjusted because it is currently about 2 ½ days ahead.

On an open space in front of the main entrance to the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute (Leibniz-HKI) is an art object by Australian artist Stefan Bruggisser, which consists of rustic wooden trunks and a solid rock slab lying on top. In summer, when the structure is overgrown with climbing plants, the sculpture can easily be overlooked. This sculpture was created in 1996 as part of a commission to the artist after the fall of the Berlin Wall and was intended to form a bridge between the scientists at the institute and the outside world. However, the name of the sculpture, ‘The Opening’, also suggests a reference to the opening of the Wall and the new opportunities that resulted from it.

In connection with a social and cultural centre built on the Beutenberg Campus in the 1980s (colloquially known as "Mitarbeiterversorgung or MAV" and since demolished), a large sculpture "Ikarus" by the artist Rüdiger Wilfort (1984) was also erected on the campus grounds. After the demolition of the building, the location of this sculpture was moved to the inner courtyard area of the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute (Leibniz-HKI). The figure of the crashing IKARUS is intended as a reference to the scientists' willingness to take risks. Although the sculpture appears to be a metal casting at first glance, it is actually a tinted polyester material that has survived quite well over the last few decades.

In the garden area of the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute (Leibniz-HKI) stands a large bronze statue "Girl with Dove", which was created by the artist Gerhard Rommel in 1977. Gerhard Rommel was a well-known sculptor, medallist, coin designer, graphic artist and painter who worked as a freelance artist in Berlin after completing his training. In addition to the bronze sculpture, he also created an institute medallion for the institute, which was produced in both stoneware and Meissen porcelain. The motif of a ‘girl with a dove’ is often found in art with models as far back as antiquity, with the dove being used as a multifaceted symbol of peace, timidity, tenderness or fertility.

Sundials have been erected at two different locations on the campus site over the years. The founder of the campus site, Hans Knöll, is said to have had a soft spot for sundials. The first sundial was erected on a stone pedestal near his home in 1951 (right-hand image). However, only the stone base with differently designed sides remains, which can be found today somewhat hidden (left-hand image) behind the bronze statue ‘Girl with Dove’. Zodiac signs are depicted on two opposite sides. On the other two sides you can see a female or angelic figure and a dove with an olive branch.
 

Another striking sundial is located on an inconspicuous building with seminar rooms at the university. It has a cuboid structure and is mounted on the southern corner of the building and decorated with artistically designed numerals. Strictly speaking, there are actually three sundials, as the two side cube faces use their own shadow bar.

Sundials combine science, art and architecture and therefore also fit well on a science campus.

In front of the part of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering (Fraunhofer IOF) building dedicated to quantum technologies, a mast with a large round glass plate suspended on a gimbal stands out, which shows different coloured reflections depending on the viewing direction. These effects are particularly easy to recognise in cloudy weather or at dusk or in the evening. It is an object by the Swabian artist Sebastian Kuhn entitled ‘Space Generator’ (2024). In addition to the part outside, there is also a corresponding ‘porthole’ inside the building, which also produces light effects through multiple reflections. On the one hand, the optical reflection effects shown are intended to create a reference to the Institute's photonic fields of work. In addition, the artist attempts to create the illusion of a three-dimensional space and thus a kind of light tunnel through the optical multiple reflections.

A sculpture entitled ‘Virion and Shield’ by the Saalfeld sculptor Sylvia Bohlen was erected in front of the animal house of the Virological Institute as part of the new building in 2003. It consists of a large metallic shield with attached spherical structures. The differently coloured spherical structures are based on the depiction of viruses in electron microscope images and artistically represent their defence in the body. The aim is to bring microscopic-biological processes closer to the viewer in large macroscopic dimensions.

The central building of the Beutenberg Campus, the ‘Abbe Centre Beutenberg’, stands out due to its highly unconventional architecture. This building is supported by the Abbe Foundation, which is why the architects Gerken, Marg und Partner, Hamburg, were inspired to base the floor plan of the building on the logo of the Abbe Foundation, which consists of two connected lens-like half-shells. The two correspondingly curved parts of the building to the right and left of the entrance front are connected by a centre section with an auditorium and rooms for a staff canteen. In a certain sense, this entire building can therefore also be seen as a special and particularly monumental sculpture on the campus grounds.