Final resting place for princely rectors

The remains of the last Prince of Saxony-Jena, Duke Johann Wilhelm, were recently laid to rest again. Parts of the skeleton had been removed from the coffin in 1958 after the prince's coffin had been the target of an arson attack in the prince's crypt under St Michael's Church in Jena. The sarcophagus had to be opened to extinguish the fire. The remains were then stored for decades in the Osteological Collection of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena. Now the mortal remains of the former princely rector of the University have been returned to their original burial place. At the same time, the reburial marks the completion of the extensive restoration of the Jena princely crypt, which was part of the research project on the Collegium Jenense. On Wednesday (30 April) from 1 pm, a service will be held in the town church to mark the reburial of the remains. Pastor Anne Simon will hold the service, after which the four restored princely coffins in the crypt can be viewed and there will be an opportunity to talk to those involved in the project.

The crypt has been restored and made accessible to the public

Since 2018, the Collegium Jenense as the founding site of the University of Jena has been the subject of an ambitious interdisciplinary research project. As part of this project, the princely crypt in St Michael's Church was extensively renovated and made accessible to the public again after decades. The University of Jena, the parish of Jena, the city's heritage office and the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Archaeology worked hand in hand. This also made it possible to restore the remains of Duke Bernhard's epitaph, which once hung above Luther's tomb slab and had been considered destroyed since the 1980s. This work was financed with funds from the Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach family and the Kulturstiftung der Länder. Further funding for the restoration of the entire crypt came from the church's own funds, the church building association, the Ernst Abbe Foundation and a crowdfunding project from the public.

A total of four people rest in the princely crypt in artistically designed coffins made of a tin-lead alloy, which were made by a pewterer in Weimar and are considered the most beautiful baroque coffins in Thuringia. These are Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Jena (1667–1668), Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Jena (1638–1678/studied in Jena and was princely rector of the University from 1654), Duchess Marie Charlotte of Saxe-Jena, née Duchess de La Trémoille (1632–1682) and Duke Johann Wilhelm of Saxe-Jena (1675–1690). This princely line died out with Johann Wilhelm of Saxe-Jena. The duke was also the princely rector of the University of Jena.